1? 


3  W)  .  WitgjO.. 


The  Embarrassment  of 

Success 


AkVliat  the  Missions  Ashed  and  Why 
-—What  the  Church  Gave 


* 


THE  BOARD  OF  FOREIGN  MISSIONS 

OF  THE 

METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

150  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


Concluding  Paragraph  from  Secretary  Leonard  s  Report  to 
the  General  Committee  of  Foreign  Missions 
Saint  Louis,  November,  1908 

From  every  field  and  from  every  department  of  our  work  there  comes  the 
cry  for  more  money  and  more  missionaries.  If  the  church  will  furnish  the 
money  we  will  find  the  men  and  women  who  will  gladly  go.  O,  that  the  Meth¬ 
odist  Episcopal  Church  would  respond  to  the  call  of  the  General  Conference 
sent  forth  last  May:  1909,  $3,000,000;  1910,  $4,000,000;  1911,  $5,000,000;  1912, 
$6,000,000.  These  sums  are  entirely  practicable.  If  our  three  million  Meth¬ 
odists  would  average  five  cents  a  week  each  for  foreign  missions  it  would 
place  at  the  disposal  of  the  General  Committee  annually  $7,800,000.  This 
ought  to  be  done.  It  can  be  done.  It  will  be  done  in  the  not  distant  future. 


Resolution  Adopted  by  tbe  General  Committee 

Resolved ,  That  this  General  Committee  is  impressed  that  the  ministry 
and  membership  of  our  church  need  and  desire  to  know,  in  addition  to  the 
figures  which  state  the  Committee’s  convictions  concerning  the  urgency  of 
our  opportunities  in  foreign  fields,  the  specific  facts  which  support  that  esti¬ 
mate.  We,  therefore,  request  the  Board  of  Managers  to  issue  at  the  earliest 
date  practicable,  a  brief  descriptive  leaflet  for  wide  circulation,  in  which  shall 
be  set  forth  in  concrete  form  the  condition  of  our  work  in  the  several  fields 
and  in  as  great  detail  as  practicable  the  peculiar  emergencies  which  this  year 
require  the  expenditure  of  the  various  sums  included  in  the  total  estimate. 


Printed  February,  190© 
2 


EASTERN  ASIA 


FOOCHOW  CONFERENCE 

Teackers,  Evangelistic  Workers,  New  Buildings  for  Kutien 
Academy,  for  Boys’  Boarding  Sckool  at  Foockow, 
for  Wiley  General  Hospital 

James  E.  Skinner,  M.D.: 

“The  estimates  of  the  Foochow  Conference  for  1909  are  essentially  con¬ 
servative — not  one  whit  less  than  we  need  today  to  man  the  work  already 
undertaken. 

“There  are  at  present  five  men  giving  part  of  their  time  to  evangelistic 
work.  We  ask  for  five  more,  and  there  is  heavy  work  waiting  for  all  these 
men  on  the  eight  districts  of  the  Conference.  No  missionary  can  make  his 
influence  strongly  felt  when  he  visits  a  circuit  only  once  or  twice  or,  maybe, 
three  times  a  year,  and  then  only  for  a  few  hours,  or,  at  most,  for  a  day  or 
two,  We  must  have  more  men  for  evangelistic  work  if  we  wish  to  inspire 
the  Chinese  preachers  to  do  their  best  work. 

“We  need  four  men  for  educational  work  and  we  need  them  now.  Five 
years  hence  will  be  too  late.  We  now  have  five  boarding  schools  for  boys, 
Practically  all  the  preachers  and  teachers  come  from  these  schools.  How 
essential  it  is  that  each  school  should  be  given  the  entire  time  and  influence 
of  at  least  one  man  instead  of  receiving  only  a  part  of  the  time  and  energy 
of  the  missionary  in  charge  of  the  district! 

“Is  it  wise  or  right  to  ask  four  families  to  live  in  two  houses  intended  for 
only  one  family  each?  Is  it  too  much  to  ask  for  a  third  residence  for 
Yenping? 

“The  Kutien  Academy  has  outgrown  its  building.  Boys  are  waiting  to 
enter  and  there  is  no  place  for  them.  Some  of  our  strongest  men  are  from 
this  school.  They  need  more  room.  The  Wiley  General  Hospital  at  Kutien 
has  needed  for  years  an  additional  building  for  a  chapel,  dispensary,  and 
operating  room.  The  old  building,  at  present  used  for  this  purpose,  is  falling 
down  as  the  result  of  an  earthquake  and  cannot  be  economically  repaired. 

“The  only  boys’  boarding  school  without  a  building  is  the  one  in  Foochow. 
They  are  now  crowded  in  with  the  normal  school.  They  ask  for  a  home  of 
their  own. 

“The  normal  school  should  have  a  mission  residence  in  connection  with 
it.  The  missionary  in  charge  must  now  live  half  a  mile  away  in  the 
Methodist  compound,  where  already  there  are  not  enough  houses  to  go 
around.” 

Mrs.  Grow  S.  Brown: 

“In  one  town  and  its  surrounding  villages,  not  many  miles  from  Yenping, 
there  are  possibly  25,000  people,  all  of  whom  are  indeed  ‘beyond’  the  very 

3 


outposts  of  our  work,  although  in  the  territory  set  apart  for  us  to  evangelize. 
On  a  recent  journey  through  this  territory  we  found  the  people  most  friendly; 
they  would  gladly  hear  the  gospel,  but  they  have  not  a  single  person  to  teach 
them  what  you  and  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  knowing  all  our  lives.  In 
another  city  where  there  are  25,000  people  who  could  be  reached  if  workers 
were  located  there,  we  just  longed  to  remain,  for  the  people  pleaded  so  piti¬ 
fully  for  the  good  news  of  the  kingdom.  We  were  far  beyond  our  most 
distant  preaching  place,  yet  in  our  own  territory  and  where  no  other  church 
will  carry  the  gospel.  We  passed  through  city  after  city  like  those  we  have 
mentioned.” 

In  response  to  a  request  for  $65,854,  tke  Foochow  Conference  received 
an  appropriation  of  $28,325  for  1909. 


HINGHWA  CONFERENCE 

Four  New  Men,  a  Hospital,  Salaries  of  Native  Preackers,  Day 

Sckools,  a  Sckool  Building 

Rev.  William  N.  Brewster,  for  the  Finance  Committee: 

“Four  new  men  are  needed  most  imperatively.  If  we  have  a  man  in 
Yungan  at  all,  we  must  have  two.  It  is  a  journey  of  nearly  two  weeks  from 
Hinghwa.  Dr.  Walter  W.  Williams  is  now  alone  at  Yungan,  serving  as  both 
physician  and  preacher.  The  rapid  growth  of  the  work  in  Yungchun  makes 
important  the  sending  of  a  new  missionary  to  this  place.  Another  man  is 
needed  for  the  large  Anglo-Chinese  High  School  in  Hinghwa  City.  This 
school  is  doing  practically  the  same  work  in  curriculum  as  the  colleges,  but 
under  a  more  modest  name.  We  must  do  this  work  for  our  boys  here  or  they 
will  not  get  any  modern  education.  The  dialect  and  expense  both  make  a 
Foochow  college  education  impossible  for  our  young  people  except  in  rare 
cases.  The  Rev.  Ulric  R.  Jones,  our  only  worker  there,  greatly  needs  reen¬ 
forcement.  A  medical  man  is  needed  at  Hankong.  No  hospital  for  men  in 
all  our  Hinghwa-speaking  work  tells  its  own  story.  This  is  not  true  of  any 
other  Conference  in  China.  We  have  the  site  and  part  of  the  money  for  a 
hospital.  ‘We  must  have  a  hospital,’  is  the  unanimous  plea  of  all  our  Chinese 
people.  They  are  most  importunate  and  back  up  pleas  with  pledges.” 

Rev.  Harry  G.  Dildine: 

“For  the  salaries  of  native  preachers  to  carry  on  evangelistic  work  we 
are  asking  that  the  allowance  be  doubled.  The  missionary  has  had  too  much 
of  the  salaries  of  his  preachers  to  find  in  his  own  pocket.  He  must  have  help, 
or  the  preachers  must  be  thinned  out  and  sent  home.  We  are  doing  what  we 
can  at  getting  special  gifts  for  them,  but  have  not  been  able  thus  far  to 
succeed  far  enough  to  warrant  us  in  continuing  as  we  have  heretofore. 

“We  used  to  have  money  for  our  day  schools.  This  year  we  have  none. 
Not  that  we  have  no  such  schools.  The  missionary  is  carrying  them  himself. 
But  it  has  been  thought  best  to  use  what  we  had  to  get  those  schools  organized 
and  running  well  in  the  Hinghwa  region.  They  seem  to  be  getting  upon  a 
firm  foundation,  and  now  we  are  asking  that  we  be  given  a  little  help,  so 
that  we  may  get  a  system  started.  We  could  not  start  many  schools  with  any 

4 


profit,  but  we  do  have  it  in  our  range  of  possibilities  to  have  six  good 
schools.  We  are  asking  that  the  Society  provide  five  of  them. 

“Our  school  building  at  Yungchun  has  a  covering  of  Portland  cement  on 
the  side  next  to  the  heavy  typhoon  winds  and  rains.  The  earth  walls  under¬ 
neath  have  been  settling  and  have  left  the  cement  cracked.  As  the  rains  come 
the  water  can  beat  into  those  cracks  and,  by  rushing  down  behind  the  cement, 
wash  away  the  walls,  so  as  to  endanger  the  building  and  the  lives  of  any 
people  that  may  happen  to  be  inside.  No  typhoon  has  come  our  way  as  yet. 
We  have  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  and  wait  to  see  if  the  wind  and  rain 
would  come  and  open  a  hole  whereby  we  could  get  enough  contingent  money 
to  do  the  repairing. 

“A  new  residence  at  Yungchun  becomes  unavoidably  necessary  when  you 
think  of  putting  three  families  in  one  house.  Even  with  the  two  families,  as 
now,  we  need  $200  for  our  present  residence,  to  make  it  possible  for  each 
family  to  keep  house  for  itself.  The  house  was  not  originally  designed  to 
accommodate  two  households.  But  with  the  new  man  coming  there  is  no 
question  as  to  another  house  being  needed.” 

Tkus  are  described  pressing  needs  of  tke  Hmgkwp  Conference,  wkick 
can  ke  met  only  very  partially  in  1909,  for  tke  request  of  tke  Conference 
for  an  appropriation  of  $32,667  was  answered  witk  an  appropriation  of 


$12,200. 


CENTRAL  CHINA 

More  Missionaries,  More  Mission  Residences 

Finance  Committee  Statement : 

“We  must  have  more  men.  Bishop  Bashford  recognizes  that  our  problem 
in  Central  China  is  largely  that  we  have  too  great  a  field  for  our  force.  The 
region  included  in  the  Chinkiang  District,  and  north  of  the  river  in  a  section 
where  we  once  did  pioneer  work  but  where  we  now  have  nothing,  contains 
11,000,000  people.  We  have  one  missionary  appointed  to  that  field.  Wuhu  is 
our  only  station  in  Anhwei  Province  in  which  missionaries  reside,  and  it 
is  now  without  an  evangelist.  This  province  has  one  fourth  the  population  of 
the  United  States,  and  we  shall  not  be  able  to  send  a  missionary  to  the 
evangelistic  work  there  until  one  of  our  long-1  ooked-f or  reenforcements  has 
learned  the  language.  One  evangelist  for  22,000,000  people! 

“At  Nanking,  a  city  of  400,000  people  and  with  four  stations  outside  the 
city,  we  do  not  have  the  time  of  one  man  for  evangelistic  work.  Nanking 
furnishes  in  our  institutions  and  in  the  Central  Church  an  opportunity  which 
would  satisfy  any  man’s  ambition  for  work.  A  small  part  of  one  man’s  time 
is  now  given  to  it. 

“At  Kiukiang,  the  oldest  work  in  the  mission,  the  largest  in  membership, 
and  one  of  the  largest  districts,  there  is  no  foreign  evangelist.  The  work  is 
entirely  in  charge  of  a  Chinese  district  superintendent.  This  must  not  and 
cannot  continue. 

“Because  of  our  past  history  in  Kiangsi  we  have  an  obligation  there  which 
is  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  calls  of  duty  and  opportunity.  We  once  entered 
many  places  in  which  we  now  have  only  property.  The  people  have  an 

5 


entirely  erroneous  idea  of  the  purpose  of  the  church.  We  owe  it  to  them  in 
all  these  places  to  preach  the  pure  gospel.  But  that  field  is  vast,  thickly 
populated,  almost  unentered,  uncontaminated  by  contact  with  non-Christian 
foreigners,  and  altogether  a  magnificent  opportunity.  Confessedly,  we  must 
reenforce  our  work  there.  A  new  station  for  foreign  missionaries  should  in 
the  near  future  be  opened  at  Fuchow,  with  two  families  in  residence. 

“The  three  provinces  in  which  we  have  work  have  a  total  population  of 
75,000,000  people.  We  venture  the  assertion  that  few  fields  under  the 
direction  of  the  Society  have  so  large  a  population  to  which  so  small  a  force 
is  assigned.  We  have,  in  consideration  of  the  needs  briefly  stated,  asked  for 
five  reenforcements  for  1909.  We  should  have  them  in  addition  to  our  present 
and  prospective  force.  Our  force  now  is  smaller  than  it  has  been  for  years, 
and  this  year’s  reenforcements  hardly  serve  to  bring  it  up  to  the  standard  of 
a  few  years  ago.  With  a  force  adequate  to  properly  oversee  our  already  vast 
field  and  to  reenter  fields  once  occupied,  we  are  confident  that  no  field  in  China 
would  give  greater  results.” 

In  addition  to  the  need  for  new  men,  there  is  pressing  need  in  Central 
China  for  new  residences.  Both  in  Nanking  and  Nanchang  there  are  more 
missionary  families  than  homes,  and  it  is  necessary  either  to  rent,  which  is 
very  expensive,  or  to  require  two  families  to  occupy  the  same  house. 

Xo  meet  the  situation,  according  to  the  estimates  of  the  Finance  Com¬ 
mittee,  an  appropriation  of  $55,196  was  needed.  An  appropriation  of 
$40,635  was  made. 


NORTH  CHINA 

More  ^/orkers,  New  Residences  and  Chapels,  a  Hospital  and 

a  Boys'  School 

Pamphlet,  “Summary  of  the  Year's  Work" : 

“The  theoretical  limits  of  the  North  China  Conference  include  an  area 
about  equal  to  the  part  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  River. 
This  northeastern  section  of  the  Chinese  empire  has  a  population  several 
millions  greater  than  that  of  the  entire  North  American  continent.  Our 
mission  is  actually  working  in  a  territory  equal  to  that  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  combined.  By  the  rules  of  comity  the  Methodist  Church  is 
responsible  in  this  territory  for  more  people  than  live  west  of  the  Missouri 
River. 

“During  the  past  Conference  year  we  have  had  actually  at  work  ten 
ordained  missionaries,  seven  unordained  missionaries,  and  twelve  single 
ladies.  There  have  also  been  twenty-six  ordained  Chinese  preachers  and 
sixty-three  unordained  preachers.  These  figures  mean  that  in  a  territory  and 
population  which  in  the  United  States  has  eight  Annual  Conferences,  the  total 
number  of  ordained  and  unordained  people  giving  their  whole  time  to  the  work 
of  the  church  is  little  if  any  greater  than  those  in  the  New  York  District  of  the 
New  York  Conference.  It  should  strengthen  our  faith  to  study  how  the  Lord 
can  use  so  small  a  force  to  accomplish  his  work.  It  should  also  lead  us  to 
pray  that  he  send  more  laborers  into  the  harvest.” 

6 


Bishop  J.  W.  Bashford: 

“The  recent  extension  of  the  work  of  the  North  China  Conference  south¬ 
ward  in  the  Province  of  Shantung  makes  more  imperative  the  need  of  re¬ 
enforcements  in  North  China.  At  the  last  Conference  session  this  southern 
work  was  formed  into  the  Yenchow  District,  and  arrangements  were  made 
for  stationing  a  missionary  in  the  city  of  Yenchowfu.  Another  Missionary 
Society  was  proposing  to  take  this  city  unless  we  could  occupy  it  soon.  I  do 
not  want  to  shut  others  out,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  I  do  not  want  to  give  up 
work  we  have  already  opened.  I  want  to  push  our  Shantung  work  south  to 
connect  with  the  Central  China  Conference,  which  years  ago  crossed  the 
Yangtse  and  went  up  the  Grand  Canal  to  Yangchow.  Besides  I  have 
traveled  over  that  whole  plain,  from  Yangchow  to  Yenchowfu.  It  is  as  level 
and  fertile  as  Iowa  and  has  a  population  of  600  to  1,000  per  square  mile,  with 
fine  villages  and  large  ‘hsien’  cities,  or  county  seats,  and  is  as  natural  a  field 
for  Methodism  as  Illinois  or  Iowa.” 

The  largest  item  in  the  increase  asked  by  the  North  China  Conference  is 
the  item  for  new  property — $45,892.50.  A  large  part  of  this  is  needed  for  new 
missionary  homes,  the  situation  being  as  follows:  at  Peking,  three  additional 
families  and  no  new  homes;  at  Tientsin,  four  families  and  three  homes;  at 
Changli,  one  man  now  compelled  to  live  in  rooms  of  the  hospital;  at  ,Taian, 
four  families  and  two  homes.  The  $45,892.50  includes  also  appropriations  for 
a  hospital  and  boys’  school  at  Taian  and  for  numerous  chapels  throughout 
the  Conference. 

The  Finance  Committee  estimated  that  the  situation  demanded  a  re¬ 
quest  lor  $121,710.  The  Conference  is  to  receive  $53,300. 


WEST  CHINA 

Church,  School,  and  Residence  Buildings,  Native  and  Foreign 
Evangelistic  Workers,  Maintenance  of 
Hospitals,  Chengtu  College 

Rev.  Joseph  Beech: 

“The  Szechwan  Province,  in  which  lie  the  boundaries  of  our  West  China 
Conference,  by  mutual  agreement  has  been  divided  up  between  various  mis¬ 
sionary  societies,  so  that  there  is  no  overlapping  of  work.  Our  section,  in  the 
center  of  the  province,  is  350  by  200  miles  in  area  and  contains  a  population 
of  about  15,000,000  people.  In  this  area  there  are  eighteen  cities,  of  which 
we  have  occupied  only  four.  Two  of  these  cities,  which  are  important  centers 
and  which  we  have  been  unable  to  occupy,  other  missionary  societies  are 
asking  permission  to  enter.  The  trip  from  Chungking  to  Tzechow,  200  miles, 
takes  as  long  as  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco — six  days  of  hard  travel. 
We  have  no  missionary  between  these  two  cities.” 

Rev.  James  H.  McCartney,  M.D.: 

“In  the  territory  of  the  Szechwan  Province  assigned  to  our  church  we  have 
a  population  equal  to  that  of  all  Korea,  with  only  sixteen  missionaries  and 
their  wives  and  twelve  workers  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 

7 


to  man  the  field.  Of  these  sixteen  missionaries  at  least  eight  of  them  are 
engaged  in  institutional  work,  leaving  only  eight  for  evangelistic  work.  Our 
greatest  need  at  the  present  time  is  for  more  evangelistic  workers.  We  need 
at  least  to  double  our  evangelistic  force  if  we  are  to  properly  man  the  field 
that  has  been  given  us.  We  have  135  places  of  worship,  with  2,964  in  the 
Sabbath  schools.  Nearly  $4,000  was  contributed  by  the  native  churches  last 
year. 

“The  large  medical  work  in  Chungking  has  been  self-supporting  for  over 
sixteen  years,  while  the  medical  work  in  Chengtu  receives  only  a  few  hundred 
dollars  from  the  Board  each  year.  These  two  are  among  the  largest  hospitals 
of  our  church  in  China.  Last  year  they  cared  for  more  than  40,000  out¬ 
patients,  with  only  about  $300  appropriation  from  the  Board.  The  one  in 
Chengtu  has  still  a  debt  of  over  $3,000.  They  both  need  endowments  of 
$25,000  in  order  to  meet  the  demands  made  upon  them.  Twenty-five  dollars 
will  support  a  bed  for  one  year  and  $250  will  endow  a  bed  in  perpetuity. 

“For  Chengtu  College,  now  to  become  a  part  of  the  Union  University  of 
Chengtu,  an  appropriation  of  $5,000  is  asked.  No  institution  in  the  west  of 
China  will  have  so  large  a  share  in  influencing  the  educated  youth  for 
Christianity  as  this  school. 

“In  only  a  very  few  of  the  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  places  where  we 
have  halls  for  worship  are  these  owned  by  the  Society;  in  the  majority  of 
cases  they  are  rented.  Our  foreign  residences  are  insufficient  for  the  number 
of  families;  no  direct  appropriation  has  been  given  for  that  purpose  for  many 
years.  A  number  of  school  buildings  are  needed.  Thus  the  item  for  new 
property  is  the  largest  item  in  the  increase  asked,  being  $12,750.” 

TLe  amount  asked  for  ky  tke  Finance  Committee  of  West  Cluna  was 
$43,729.  Tlie  amount  appropriated  was  $18,340. 


JAPAN 

Increase  in  the  Missionary  Force,  Grants  for  Aoyama  Gakuin 

and  Mission  Press 

Finance  Committee  Statement  of  West  Japan  Conference : 

“We  ask  you  to  distinguish  between  the  sum  granted  in  aid  to  the 
Japan  Methodist  Church  and  the  amounts  appropriated  to  the  educational 
and  evangelistic  work  carried  on  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  working  in  Japan.  The  grant-in-aid  to  the  Japan 
Methodist  Church  you  have  been  asked  not  to  decrease  during  the  first  four 
years  of  the  life  of  the  new  church;  after  that  it  will  probably  be  a  gradually 
decreasing  sum,  terminating  entirely  in  a  fixed  number  of  years. 

“The  second  of  these  appropriations  should  be  determined  wholly  by  the 
needs  of  the  work,  just  like  the  appropriations  made  to  any  other  field. 
There  is  a  great  work  which  we  may  and  should  do  in  cooperation  with  the 
Japan  Church,  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  we  shall  be  compelled  to 
ask  for  a  grant  in  excess  of  that  of  last  year.  If  a  fixed  sum  be  granted  to 
the  Japan  Methodist  Church,  or  a  gradually  decreasing  or  terminating  sum, 

8 


it  will  be  all  that  church  can  do  to  work  up  the  territory  it  now  has  and 
bring  it  up  to  complete  self-support,  without  opening  much,  if  any,  new  work. 
The  opening  of  new  work  in  the  undeveloped  part  of  this  territory  and  its 
development  into  organized  and  self-supporting  churches  may  be  greatly 
aided  by  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  But  the  development  of  any  new  work  by  missionaries  means  a 
further  grant  of  money  over  and  above  that  previously  granted  for  the 
missionaries’  salaries  and  house  rent,  to  cover  the  cost  of  such  work,  travel, 
chapel  rents,  helpers,  etc. 

“Moreover,  in  view  of  the  constantly  increasing  cost  of  everything  in 
Japan,  the  annual  appropriation  of  a  fixed  sum  to  this  field  means  a  constant 
decrease  in  the  amount  of  work  which  can  be  done.  In  both  the  east  and 
west  missions  the  missionaries  have  been  compelled  to  ask  for  an  increase 
in  salaries  in  order  to  live  and  keep  out  of  debt,  and  every  other  item  of 
expenditure  is  increasing  with  the  cost  of  living. 

“The  West  Japan  Conference  has  lost  three  of  its  missionaries  during 
the  year.  In  consequence,  two  stations — Fukuoka  and  Kagoshima — are 
unsupplied,  and  Dr.  Davison,  at  Kumamoto,  is  now,  as  he  was  at  the  be¬ 
ginning,  the  only  missionary  of  our  church  in  evangelistic  work  in  all  the 
Island  of  Kiushiu.  The  normal  development  of  missionary  work  in  this 
field  would  require  more  foreign  missionaries  than  the  same  extent  of  terri¬ 
tory  near  Tokyo,  and  if  we  may  judge  by  the  rate  of  growth  in  the  past,  if  a 
properly  developed,  self-supporting  church  is  to  be  created  in  Kiushiu  in  the 
next  twenty-five  years,  the  work  should  be  reenforced  by  the  addition  of  at 
least  six  or  seven  families  in  addition  to  those  at  Fukuoka,  Kumamoto,  and 
Kagoshima. 

“Men  should  be  placed  in  Moji,  a  growing  city  of  38,000  inhabitants, 
where  the  Rev.  A.  D.  Berry  was  stationed  for  a  short  time;  in  Kurume,  a 
former  castle  town  of  33,000,  the  seat  of  an  army  division;  in  Sasebo,  a  city 
of  68,000,  a  naval  station  where  there  is  great  demand  for  missionary  work. 
Another  family  should  be  placed  at  Yatsushiro  or  Hitoyoshi,  and  at  Omura, 
between  Nagasaki  and  Fukuoka,  while  another  man  is  imperatively  de¬ 
manded  for  evangelistic  work  in  Nagasaki  itself.  In  addition  to  these  places 
the  proper  supply  of  the  territory  included  in  the  mission  as  it  now  stands 
would  require  a  man  for  the  city  of  Gifu,  a  city  of  40,000,  in  the  Nagoya 
District,  and  an  additional  man  for  work  in  the  Loochoo  Islands.  The 
latter,  though  mentioned  last  of  all,  is  one  of  the  pressing  needs  of  our 
work. 

Re v.  Julius  Soper,  for  East  Japan  Conference: 

“Three  of  the  most  important  items  in  the  increase  asked  for  by  the 
Finance  Committee  of  the  East  Japan  Conference  are  as  follows: 

“1.  Increase  in  the  missionary  force.  Three  new  missionaries  are  asked 
for.  There  are  now  connected  with  the  mission  sixteen  missionaries;  six 
are  in  school  -work  at  Aoyama,  Tokyo,  four  are  engaged  in  evangelistic  work, 
one  is  the  general  manager  of  the  Publishing  House,  one  is  treasurer  of  the 
mission  and  of  the  Publishing  House,  one  is  giving  special  attention  to  the 
night  school  and  Gospel  Society  of  the  Central  Church,  Ginza,  Tokyo,  and 
three  are  at  home  on  furlough.  On  an  average,  two  are  always  at  home  on 
furlough. 

“The  field  covered  by  this  mission  is  a  large  one,  extending  from 

9 


Toychashi,  near  Nagoya,  200  miles  southwest  of  Tokyo,  to  Asahigawa,  on 
the  Island  of  Hokkaido  (formerly  Yezo),  700  miles  north  of  Tokyo.  This 
field  contains  the  following  large  cities:  Tokyo,  Yokohama,  Sendai, 
Yamagata,  Morioka,  Aomori,  Hirosaki,  Hakodate,  Otaru,  and  Sapporo — all 
strategic  points.  There  is  now  only  one  missionary  of  the  General  Board  in 
the  Hokkaido.  There  should  be  at  least  two.  Yamagata  and  Morioka  are 
important  centers.  Each  should  be  occupied  by  a  missionary  family. 

“If  we  are  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  work  and  do  our  share  in  the 
evangelizing  of  Japan  we  should  have  in  this  field  at  least  six  missionaries, 
either  as  district  superintendents  or  evangelists,  cooperating  with  the  new 
Methodist  Church  of  Japan,  to  help  the  pastors  and  preachers,  and  urge  the 
churches  on  to  entire  self-support.  Missionaries  who  use  the  language 
fluently  have  fine  opportunities  in  Japan  for  direct  evangelistic  work,  and 
will  have  for  at  least  twenty-five  years.  To  accomplish  such  a  purpose  there 
ought  to  be  two  or  three  young  missionaries  on  the  field,  giving  themselves 
wholly  to  the  study  of  the  language. 

“2.  Educational  work  at  Aoyama,  Tokyo.  Aoyama  is  our  great  center  in 
Japan.  There  is  located  the  Aoyama  Gakuin,  with  three  departments — 
theological,  in  which  the  Canadian  Methodists  cooperate,  collegiate,  and 
academic.  There  are  now  nearly  500  students  in  these  three  departments. 
The  cost  of  living  and  salaries  of  professional  men  have  largely  increased 
since  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  The  Missionary  Society  has  been  giving  to 
the  educational  work  at  Aoyama  about  $4,500  annually.  But  this  is  not 
adequate  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  work  and  furnish  such  facilities  as 
will  keep  Aoyama  Gakuin  on  a  footing  with  institutions  of  similar  grade  in 
the  empire,  especially  the  public  schools,  so  well  equipped  by  the  government. 
Hence  an  increase  of  $1,000  is  asked.  No  school  in  Japan,  of  similar  grade, 
is  run  at  so  small  an  outlay. 

“3.  The  Mission  Press.  The  Methodist  Publishing  House  is  the  only- 
mission  publishing  house  in  Japan.  It  is  centrally  located,  on  one  of  the 
finest  corners  in  the  city  of  Tokyo.  The  business  amounts  to  $50,000  a  year. 
During  the  past  four  years  180,000  volumes  of  the  new  Union  Hymnal  have 
been  issued  from  our  mission  press.  In  addition  to  this  work  there  is  issued 
monthly  and  quarterly  from  this  press  translations  of  the  International 
Sunday  School  Lesson  Leaves  and  other  helps  for  all  the  Protestant  Sunday 
schools  in  Japan.  But  a  heavy  debt  rests  upon  this  Publishing  House. 
Without  outside  help  it  will  take  a  long  time  to  get  rid  of  this  debt.  The 
interest  eats  up  a  large  share  of  the  profits.  And,  besides,  as  this  is  a 
mission  press,  engaged  in  providing  the  young  church  in  Japan  with  a 
healthy  literature,  there  is  more  or  less  loss  in  some  religious  and  theological 
publications,  not  to  speak  of  tracts  for  the  people.  Hence  the  Publishing 
House  asks  for  $3,000  to  help  it  to  recover  itself  and  meet  its  obligations,  as 
well  as  to  make  it  possible  to  secure  the  largest  amount  of  usefulness  in  the 
future.” 

The  West  Japan  Conference,  through  the  Finance  Committee,  asked 
$41,588  lor  1909,  an  increase  of  about  $19,000  over  the  appropriation  of 
last  year.  The  East  Japan  Conference  asked  lor  $52,795,  this  represent¬ 
ing  an  increase  of  over  $10,000.  No  increase  could  he  made  hy  the  com¬ 
mittee  in  the  appropriation  to  Japan  lor  1909 — $62,500 — to  he  divided  hy 
the  Board  between  the  East  and  West  Conferences. 

10 


KOREA 


“Missionaries  Without  Homes,  Schools  ^W^ithout  Buildings, 

Physicians  Without  Hospitals" 

Rev .  George  R.e'ber  Jones: 

“Probably  no  greater  emergency  confronts  the  church  at  this  time  than 
that  of  its  responsibility  to  Korea.  Only  a  few  years  ago  Korea  was  a  hermit 
nation,  closed  to  all  foreign  intercourse,  with  laws  proclaiming  death  to  those 
among  its  people  who  might  venture  to  accept  the  Christian  faith,  and  with 
a  deep-seated  antagonism  to  all  missionaries  of  the  cross.  Within  the  short 
space  of  twenty  years  this  has  been  completely  reversed  and  the  Christian 
movement  among  the  Koreans  has  assumed  proportions  of  a  most  startling 
and  impressive  character.  At  least  200,000  converts  have  been  won  to  Christ 
by  evangelical  missions  there,  of  whom  fully  50,000  are  now  under  the  care 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  We  have  opened  six  mission  stations, 
including  the  cities  of  Yungbyen,  Pyengyang,  Haiju,  Seoul,  Chemulpo,  and 
Kongju.  These  are,  with  the  exception  of  Seoul  and  Chemulpo,  all  of  them 
provincial  capitals,  and  this  line  of  stations  extends  through  the  heart  of  the 
empire,  giving  us  access  to  several  millions  among  its  population.  The 
Rev.  Horace  G.  Underwood,  senior  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  Korea,  in  his  recent  book,  The  Call  of  Korea,  says  that  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  responsible  for  the  evangelization  of  at  least  3,000,000 
Koreans.  This  estimate  of  an  honored  fellow-worker  in  another  mission 
gives  a  hint  of  the  minimum  of  our  task. 

“To  meet  this  unusual  and  extraordinary  situation  the  Methodist  Epis¬ 
copal  Mission  has  twenty-two  men  now  on  the  field,  of  whom  six  have  been 
added  during  the  past  year.  How  small  is  this  number  to  cope  with  a  field 
like  Korea,  for  whose  evangelization  we  are  responsible!  Of  the  missionaries 
on  the  field  five  families  are  without  houses  in  which  to  live.  There  are  a 
number  of  schools  under  the  mission  in  which  are  enrolled  over  5,000  pupils, 
most  of  these  in  the  primary  grades.  The  equipment  of  these  schools  is 
distressingly  inadequate.  The  best  buildings  are  at  Pyengyang  and  Chemulpo, 
where  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  T.  D.  Collins  and  other  friends,  some 
relief  has  been  afforded  the  situation.  But  in  other  places,  and  particularly 
in  Seoul,  Kongju,  Yungbyen,  and  Suwon,  the  students  meet,  except  in  one 
instance,  in  small-roomed,  low-ceilinged  native  buildings,  unsanitary  and 
unadapted  to  school  purposes.  We  have  a  most  promising  theological  school, 
with  140  splendid  men  in  preparation  for  the  ministry,  but  with  no  habitation 
in  which  to  meet,  the  classes  holding  their  sessions  in  the  auditorium  of 
churches  and  the  living  rooms  of  the  missionaries. 

“There  is  one  hospital  in  Pyengyang,  housed  in  a  native  building,  without 
adequate  wards,  but  doing  a  splendid  work  in  spite  of  a  most  distressing 
handicap.  Medical  missionaries  have  been  appointed  to  the  stations  at 
Kongju  and  Yungbyen,  but  go  to  their  appointments  without  hospitals  in 
which  to  work,  or  even  houses  in  which  to  live. 

“In  this  day  of  supreme  opportunity  we  confront  our  task  as  a  mission 
with  missionaries  some  of  whom  are  without  homes,  schools  without  build¬ 
ings,  physicians  without  hospitals — a  distressing  situation.  On  the  one  hand, 

11 


a  nation  ready  to  accept  Christ,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  mission  as  yet  too 
weak  to  meet  the  situation.  The  missionaries  are  ready  to  make  any  sacrifice 
and  to  go  to  any  lengths  in  service,  but  surely  help  must  be  given  to  remedy 
a  situation  such  as  the  above. 

“The  grant-in-aid  for  work  In  Korea  is  about  $3 0,000  a  year,  an  amount 
utterly  inadequate  to  maintain  a  work  which  is  national  in  its  extent, 
demands,  and  opportunities.  The  experience  of  the  Board  in  other  national 
fields,  like  Italy,  Mexico,  and  Japan,  shows  that  at  least  twice  $30,000  should 
be  spent  to  maintain  a  work  at  all  commensurate  with  the  demands  upon  us. 
But  this  is  particularly  true  in  a  great  ripe  harvest  field  like  Korea,  where 
missionary  money  invested  brings  such  immediate  and  immense  returns.  The 
opportunity  to  afford  permanent  and  adequate  relief  to  the  institutions  which 
Methodism  must  erect  in  Korea  will  be  afforded  in  1910,  when  the  church  is 
asked  by  General  Conference  action  to  celebrate  Korea’s  Silver  Jubilee,  but  in 
the  meantime  some  relief  must  be  afforded  the  congested  condition  which  has 
grown  out  of  the  failure  to  make  provision  in  the  past.  Parsonages  should 
be  provided  for  the  missionaries  now  in  the  field,  and,  at  least,  dispensary 
quarters  for  the  physicians,  and  several  of  the  more  needy  schools  should  be 
put  in  quarters  which  will  meet  their  needs.” 

To  meet  these  needs  and  opportunities  the  Korea  Mission  Conference,  in 
its  estimates  for  1909,  asked  for  $66,861,  an  increase  of  $38,396  over  the  appro¬ 
priation  of  last  year;  of  this  increase  $25,750  was  to  be  used  for  new  property. 
In  view  of  the  debt  situation  this  year,  it  seemed  probable  that  the  General 
Committee  would  be  unable  to  make  any  increase  in  Korea’s  appropriation. 
But  the  situation  in  that  field  had  so  worked  upon  the  hearts  of  delegates  to 
the  General  Committee,  that  a  special  subscription  was  taken,  by  which  in  a 
few  minutes  $10,000  was  raised.  This,  by  vote  of  the  committee,  was  then 
added  to  the  appropriation  for  Korea. 

TLe  request  for  an  increase  of  $38,396  was  tlius  answered  witL  an 
increase  of  $10,000.  TKe  appropriation  asked  for  was  $66,861;  tke  appro¬ 
priation  made  was  $38,465. 


12 


SOUTHERN  ASIA 


NORTH  INDIA 

New  Missionaries,  Training  Classes,  Boarding  School  for  Boys 

Rev .  W.  A.  Mansell ,  for  the  Finance  Committee: 

“T,he  amount  of  increase  asked  for  is  $12,058.  Of  this  amount  $2,500  is 
the  sum  needed  to  adjust  the  salaries  of  the  missionaries  according  to  the 
new  scale  fixed  by  the  Board.  It  was  voted  that  this  amount  should  be  asked 
for  as  a  separate  item,  as  it  was  felt  by  the  missionaries  that  they  could  not 
accept  the  increase  of  salaries  if  it  had  to  be  cut  out  from  the  work.  Of  the 
balance  of  the  increase,  $3,300  is  needed  to  adjust  the  salaries  of  the  native 
workers  according  to  the  revised  scale  which  has  been  for  two  years  before 
the  Conference,  but  which  it  has  been  impossible  to  adopt,  owing  to  lack  of 
funds.  The  cost  of  living  has  greatly  increased,  making  it  impossible  for 
native  preachers  and  workers  to  subsist  on  their  meager  allowances.  Our 
estimates  also  include  the  salaries  of  four  new  missionaries.” 

Rev.  N.  L.  Rockey,  Gonda  District: 

“The  burden  here  in  the  Gonda  District  is  great,  the  responsibilities  are 
momentous  and  weigh  us  down  almost  more  than  we  can  bear.  The  feeble 
boys’  school  must  be  strengthened  and  brought  up  to  date;  a  class  must  be 
opened  for  the  training  of  pastor-teachers,  and  one  or  two  experienced  native 
teachers  must  be  found  somewhere  to  help  me  care  for  them.  All  this  will 
take  about  $500  more  per  year  than  has  ever  been  given  here,  besides  the 
initial  expense  of  providing  quarters.  In  many  ways  we  are  fifteen  years 
behind  the  rest  of  the  Conference,  but  we  have  a  territory  and  a  people  with 
an  opportunity  that  Bishop  Thoburn  said  he  coveted  above  most  of  the  fields 
he  has  seen.” 

Rev.  J.  H.  Grill,  Bijnor  District: 

“The  following  is  a  list  of  what  is  needed  to  equip  the  Bijnor  District 
properly:  (1)  A  central  boarding  school  for  boys,  with  buildings  for  tuitional 
purposes  united  to  a  large  church  building  on  the  edge  of  the  bazaar.  (2)  A 
church  building  in  each  of  five  circuit  headquarters  now  not  supplied. 
(3)  The  girls’  boarding  school  to  be  enlarged  by  the  extension  of  at  least 
500  feet  of  wall.  The  addition  of  teachers’  dormitories  and  a  room  for  the 
sick.  A  well  for  drinking  water  is  greatly  needed,  as  the  entire  number  of 
boarders  now  depend  for  drinking  and  bath  water  on  the  supply  carried  by  a 
single  old  man,  who  carries  it  to  them  in  a  leather  sack  every  hour.  (4)  A 
grant  is  needed  for  the  expenses  of  a  summer  school  for  the  lower  grade  of 
teachers  and  helpers.” 

The  North  India  Coni  erence  ashed  for  $74,258.  An  appropriation  of 
$62,200  was  granted. 


13 


SOUTH  INDIA 


Itinerating  Journeys,  Grants  for  Village  Set  ools.  Taxes, 

Sanitarium 

Finance  Committee  Statement: 


Mission 


“The  large  advance  in  the  estimates  over  the  appropriation  for  1908 
is  thus  explained:  (1)  The  advance  in  missionaries’  salaries  is  due  to 
an  advance  in  the  salary  scale  and  to  estimates  for  new  missionaries.  (2)  The 
current  year’s  appropriation  did  not  provide  for  missionaries’  itinerating 
under  the  head  of  evangelistic  work.  Our  missionaries  have  been  obliged  to 
meet  this  charge  in  considerable  part  themselves.  (3)  The  appropriation  for 
1908  was  too  small  to  admit  any  grants  for  educational  work.  Our  boarding 
and  training  institutions  greatly  need  help,  and  the  advance  that  we  ought  to 
make  in  the  line  of  village  schools  cannot  be  made  from  any  local  source. 
The  great  importance  of  this  work  and  our  inability  to  provide  for  it  explains 
the  estimate.  (4)  We  have  been  so  closely  pressed  by  the  smallness  of  the 
appropriation  that  we  have  been  unable  to  provide  for  taxes  on  mission 
property.  This  item  and  workers’  rents  have  been  a  heavy  burden  on  our 
missionaries  and  we  feel  warranted  in  asking  relief  at  this  point.  (5)  Our 
estimates  for  new  property  show  large  plans  f#r  increasing  our  material 
equipment.  For  only  two  objects,  however,  do  we  ask  aid  through  the  appro¬ 
priations.  The  chief  item  is  of  great  importance  because  of  its  bearing  on 
the  health  of  our  mission  force — $4,000  for  a  mission  sanitarium.  The  addi¬ 
tional  item — $500  only — is  asked  for  a  much-needed  school  building  at  Bidar, 
where  we  have  no  building  for  school  purposes  or  for  public  services  of  the 
church. 

“A  comparative  study  of  the  estimates  presented  will  show  that  we  are 
not  seeking  to  escape  personal  effort  to  secure  support  for  the  work.  As 
regards  new  property,  we  have  asked  only  $500  beside  the  amount  needed 
for  the  sanitarium;  for  evangelistic  work  we  have  asked  less  than  one  third 
of  the  ‘Total  Proposed  Expenditure/  and  of  that  nearly  forty  per  cent  is 
needed  for  itinerating;  for  our  educational  work  we  have  asked  about  one 
sixth  only  of  the  ‘Total  Proposed  Expenditure/  ” 


The  South  India  Conf  erence,  through  the  Finance  Committee,  asked 
for  an  appropriation  of  $45,037,  an  increase  of  $21,387.  The  appropria¬ 
tion  is  $23,775,  an  increase  of  $125. 


NORTHWEST  INDIA 

Increased  Living  Expenses,  Native  Preachers'  Salaries,  Debts  on 

Property 

Rev.  J.  C.  Butcher: 

“Because  the  most  important  work  of  the  missionary  is  the  development 
of  the  native  agency,  special  attention  should  be  given  to  the  Northwest 
India  Conference.  This  Conference  contains  one  half  of  the  native  Chris¬ 
tians  in  India,  yet  instead  of  having  a  strong  force  of  missionaries,  with  a 
good  supply  of  schools,  for  the  development  of  the  native  agency  for  the 
conquest  of  the  country,  it  has  barely  enough  missionaries  ‘to  hold  things 

14 


together/  and  outside  of  the  orphanages  not  more  than  300  Christian  boys 
in  the  boarding  schools. 

“Here  is  the  situation:  A  territory  1,300  miles  long,  containing 
60,000,000  people,  of  whom  90,000  are  enrolled  in  our  own  Christian  com¬ 
munity,  and  6,000,000  belong  to  the  classes  that  are  disposed  to  accept 
our  religion.  To  furnish  instruction  to  this  Christian  community  and  prepare 
native  workers  to  evangelize  the  rest  there  is  a  force  of  fifteen  missionaries, 
four  boys’  orphanages,  and  four  boys’  boarding  schools.  It  is  not  strange 
that  some  of  the  Jubilee  visitors  complained  that  we  were  not  educating  our 
Christian  community.  Worse  than  that,  we  are  not  training  workers  to 
evangelize  the  country.  What  can  fifteen  missionaries  without  adequate 
schools  or  buildings  be  expected  to  accomplish  toward  such  a  task?  More¬ 
over,  we  cannot  reject  all  the  inquirers  that  come  to  us,  so  we  are  baptizing 
about  10,000  a  year. 

“Ten  years  ago  the  Northwest  India  was  a  small  Conference,  as  well 
provisioned  as  any  of  the  other  India  Conferences.  But  during  the  last  ten 
years  it  has  grown  more  than  all  the  rest  of  India  put  together,  and  the 
situation  has  become  a  serious  one.  Instead  of  one  Conference,  with  fifteen 
missionaries  and  a  grant  of  $31,625,  we  ought  to  have  now  four  Conferences, 
with  at  least  fifty  missionaries  and  a  grant  of  $80,000.” 

Finance  Committee  Statement: 

“The  items  of  increase  asked  for  are  three:  1.  An  increase  in  mis¬ 
sionaries’  salaries  is  demanded  by  the  fact  that  prices  have  gone  up  from 
twenty-five  to  forty  per  cent  since  the  fixing  of  the  previous  scale.  2.  This 
Conference  is  dependent  on  special  gifts  for  Hindustani  preachers’  salaries 
to  a  very  large  extent.  There  is  considerable  difference  between  the  amount 
that  is  being  ‘distributed’  in  1908  on  account  of  special  gifts  and  the  amount 
that  is  actually  being  received  by  the  Conference.  To  make  up  this  difference 
an  appropriation  is  asked.  3.  For  debts  on  property  an  appropriation  of 
$10,083  is  asked.” 

Tke  total  amount  needed  for  1909  by  tlie  Nortkwest  India  Conference, 
as  estimated  by  the  committee,  is  $58,119.  The  amount  the  Conference  is 
to  receive  is  $31,625. 


CENTRAL  PROVINCES 

New  Missionaries,  Village  Sckools,  Theological  School,  Acquisi¬ 
tion  of  an  Independent  Mission 

Finance  Committee  Statement: 

“We  are  asking  for  next  year  an  increase  of  about  $10,000  over  what  we 
are  receiving  from  the  Board  this  year.  This  is  accounted  for  in  three  ways. 
The  increase  includes  an  amount  asked  for  new  property,  and  an  amount  for 
new  missionaries,  but  is  chiefly  made  up  of  figures  that  show  the  ever- 
increasing  demands  of  a  growing  work  upon  us.  But  taking  the  figures  as 
they  are,  with  the  increase  asked  for,  they  show  that  we  are  proposing  to 
provide  for  just  about  half  of  the  needed  expenditure  of  the  Conference  for 
the  coming  year.  It  is  going  to  require  a  lot  of  faith  and  prayer  and  work 
and  lifting  to  realize  our  hopes  in  this  line,  but  we  felt  that  we  could  not 
ask  for  a  larger  increase,  much  as  it  is  needed.  In  sending  these  estimates 

15 


we  send  the  result  of  careful  and  prayerful  consideration  of  what  our  work 
already  in  hand  demands  and  what  we  ourselves  hope  to  do  in  helping  to 
meet  these  demands.” 

Rev.  George  K.  Gilder,  Raipur  District: 

“In  the  Raipur  District,  with  its  area  of  30,000  square  miles  and  a 
population  approximating  4,000,000,  of  whom  nearly  2,000,000  look  to  us  for 
the  word  of  life,  there  are  but  two  missionaries  of  the  Board — one  at  Gondia 
and  the  other  at  Raipur.  To  be  sure,  we  occupy  a  number  of  other  strategic 
points,  from  each  of  which  it  is  possible  to  develop  successful  work;  but  in 
order  to  bring  this  about  we  certainly  ought  to  have  three  more  missionaries. 
Without  additional  leadership  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  us  to  avail  our¬ 
selves  of  the  many  golden  opportunities  that  offer  at  more  than  one  of 
these  centers.” 

The  late  Rev.  G.  B.  Ward,  Godavari  District: 

“Missionaries  for  the  work  now  included  in  the  Godavari  District  is  the 
most  imperative  need  before  us.  There  are  2,000,000  people  to  whom  we  alone 
are  called  thus  far.  It  is  such  a  field  as  offers  in  few  parts  of  India.  We 
should  so  worthily  occupy  the  whole  of  it  that  there  may  be  left  no  reason 
for  any  other  mission  to  dream  it  is  needed  on  the  same  ground.” 

Rev.  H.  A.  Musser,  Nagpur  District: 

“In  the  Nagpur  Circuit  we  have  4,000,000  Marathas  in  a  territory  of 
50,000  square  miles.  These  people  live  in  villages  and  towns  of  from  100  to 
10,000.  We  aim  to  occupy  all  the  large  places  of  1,000  or  over  with  a  good 
school  and  a  preacher  and  his  colporteur,  and  to  have  in  the  preacher’s  charge 
a  circuit  of  five  or  six  villages  within  five  miles  of  his  station  which  he  will 
regularly  visit  and  from  which  will  come  children  for  his  school.  We  have 
now  in  the  district  about  twenty  such  stations  already  running  and  their 
influence  is  tremendous;  the  schools  are  growing  out  of  their  small  quarters 
and  inquirers  are  found  in  many  places.  We  could  place  twenty-five  more 
such  centers  immediately  if  we  had  the  funds.  We  are  needing  $1,000  to 
remodel  a  building  to  be  used  as  a  theological  school  at  Nagpur.” 

Bishop  J.  E.  Robinson: 

“By  the  recent  acquisition  of  the  Balaghat  Mission,  in  the  Jubbulpore 
District,  property  valued  at  15,000  rupees,  comprising  three  bungalows,  one 
fairly  good  church,  a  number  of  small  chapels  and  village  schoolhouses, 
together  with  a  native  Christian  community  of  130,  was  transferred  to  us 
without  financial  equivalent.  More  valuable,  however,  were  the  seven 
missionary  workers  of  proved  efficiency — men  and  women  thoroughly  accli¬ 
mated  and  possessing  a  good  knowledge  of  the  vernacular — who  were  added 
to  our  mission  force.  To  send  these  to  the  field  and  support  them  while 
acquiring  the  language  and  during  their  period  of  service,  would  have  cost 
the  church  not  less  than  $20,000,  apart  from  all  the  incidental  risks  of 
misfits,  breakdowns,  etc.  The  Conference  is  now  under  obligation  to  provide 
$200  a  month  for  the  Balaghat  Mission,  this  being  outside  of  the  regular 
appropriations  for  1908.  An  appropriation  of  $2,400  is  asked  for  this 
purpose.” 

The  work  of  the  Central  Provinces  Mission  Conference,  according  to 
tie  estimates  of  the  Finance  Committee,  called  for  an  appropriation  of 

$28,411.  The  appropriation  made  was  $17,131. 

16 


BOMBAY  CONFERENCE 


New  Missionaries, 
Orphanages 


Support  for  English  Work,  Maintenance  of 
and  Training  Schools,  Native  ^A^orhers 


Rev.  Edwin  F.  Frease: 

“The  Bombay  Conference  includes  nearly  all  of  the  great  Bombay  Presi¬ 
dency.  It  is  operating  in  three  great  language  and  race  areas — the  Marathi, 
Gujarati,  and  Sindhi;  is  doing  something  in  Hindustani,  and  has  an  extensive 
English  work.  It  has  to  meet,  therefore,  difficulties  not  experienced  in 
missions  operating  in  practically  one  language  area.  Adjustments  in  the 
working  force  which  otherwise  would  be  practicable  cannot  be  made;  to  an 
extent,  at  least,  the  solidarity  of  interest  is  broken;  a  multiplicity  of  problems 
arise;  three  sets  of  educational  and  training  institutions,  with  their  separate 
missionary  and  indigenous  staffs,  are  necessary,  and  literature  in  three  lan¬ 
guages  must  be  produced.  When,  therefore,  the  work  of  the  missionaries  of 
this  Conference  is  compared  with  that  of  a  similar  number  elsewhere,  together 
with  the  work  and  results,  this  language  and  race  factor  must  be  taken  fully 
into  account. 

“The  Marathi  is  spoken  by  about  20,000,000,  and  our  fair  share  of  re¬ 
sponsibility  for  this  people  in  this  Conference  is  perhaps  5,000,000.  We  have 
been  in  this  field  for  over  thirty-five  years,  and  yet  today  have  but  three  mis¬ 
sionaries  working  in  the  Marathi  tongue!  Of  these  the  district  superintend¬ 
ent,  instead  of  being  free  to  ‘superintend,’  which  is  of  supreme  imporance  in 
such  a  work,  is  practically  tied  down  to  Poona  with  the  care  of  the  boys’ 
orphanage  and  the  Bible  training  school,  and  the  work  in  and  reachable  from 
Poona.  In  the  great  city  of  Bombay,  in  many  if  not  most  respects  the  chief 
city  of  the  East,  amidst  a  population  of  nearly  a  million,  one  lone  missionary 
is  striving  to  make  himself  heard  and  felt  among  the  Marathas.  For  the  vast 
town  and  village  populations  but  one  missionary  is  available.  Surely  this 
would  be  bad  enough  were  each  of  the  three  well  supplied  with  funds  for 
carrying  forward  the  fight.  But  the  appropriation  barely  covers  the  personal 
support  and  itinerating  of  the  missionaries,  leaving  not  a  penny  available  for 
the  work  itself  in  that  great  city  and  field.  It  really  would  be  ludicrous  were 
it  not  so  painfully  serious,  this  way  of  attacking  such  a  problem  by  such  a 
church  as  ours!  Yet  there  can  be  no  doubt,  from  the  results  attained*  and 
the  openings  now  before  us,  that  with  a  force  more  proportionate  to  the 
task  and  reasonably  supported,  the  Marathi  country  would  soon  be  one  of  our 
most  fruitful  fields. 

“The  English  work  is  almost  wholly  self-supporting,  yet  it  needs  and 
should  have  financial  aid  where  conditions  require  it.  It  is  in  connection 
with  the  Bombay  District  that  the  work  in  Sind  has  been  opened,  the  pastor 
of  our  English  Church  in  the  large  and  rapidly  growing  port  of  great  and 
increasing  importance,  Karachi,  having  also  had  charge  of  the  vernacular 
work,  which  has  taken  firm  hold  in  the  city  and  sent  its  branches  far  out 
along  the  railway  lines  into  the  regions  about,  without  help  from  the  appro¬ 
priations  thus  far.  The  very  least  that  should  be  done  is  to  send  a  missionary 
for  that  particular  work  and  give  him  adequate  funds  to  carry  it  forward. 

“The  church  is  familiar  with  the  great  movement  to  Christ  in  the 
province  of  Gujarat  and  Kathiawar,  with  a  population  of  about  10,000,000, 
where  from  small  beginnings  over  35,000  converts  have  been  won  in  the  past 

17 


thirteen  years,  in  spite  of  the  ravages  of  famine  and  plague.  The  present 
baptized  Christian  community  is  only  about  20,000,  the  terrible  mortality 
from  plague  and  famine  accounting  for  the  others.  Such  amazing  growth, 
together  with  the  orphan  problem,  made  institutional  work  on  a  large  scale 
not  optional  but  imperative.  The  Christian  orphans  must  be  cared  for  and 
trained,  and  a  large  force  of  Gujarati  workers  selected  and  trained. 

“Each  of  three  institutions  must  have  missionary  supervision,  and 
much  of  the  time  of  another  missionary  must  be  given  to  editorial  and  other 
literary  work.  As  a  result,  there  has  never  been  more  than  one  man  in  the 
Gujarat  District  free  to  give  himself  to  direct  work  among  the  more  than 
seven  hundred  towns  in  which  there  are  now  Christians  living,  and  this  year 
that  one  brother  is  mission  treasurer  for  the  Conference,  district  treasurer, 
has  considerable  building  work,  and  has  assigned  to  him  the  supervision  of 
seven  great  circuits  containing  some  8,000  Christians  in  about  three  hundred 
towns,  and  of  some  seventy  Gujarati  workers,  with  the  supporters  of  all  of 
which  he  must  keep  up  correspondence!  And  the  superintendent  of  the 
Kathiawar  District  is  single-handed  carrying  the  burden  of  the  work  among 
the  3,000,000  of  that  great  peninsula!  It  has  become  an  almost  impossible 
situation,  and  it  is  no  cause  for  surprise  that  it  has  become  impossible  ade¬ 
quately  to  care  for  the  converts  or  follow  up  the  movement,  resulting  in  a 
falling  off  in  baptisms,  although  over  2,000,000  souls  are  immediately 
reachable  were  the  fight  but  pushed  vigorously. 

“Yet  with  the  exception  of  very  small  grants  for  the  upkeep  of  properties, 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  has  not  been  able  to  appropriate  anything 
toward  the  maintenance  of  these  great  and  essential  institutions,  nor  for  the 
support  of  any  of  the  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  preachers  and  teachers,  nor 
for  day  or  Sunday  schools,  nor  for  any  other  kind  of  work.  So  that  here,  as 
all  over  the  Conference,  the  additional  responsibility  of  raising  the  special 
gifts  to  carry  on  this  vast  work  has  been  a  nerve-racking  burden. 

“The  regular  committee  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  recommended 
to  the  last  General  Committee  that  the  appropriations  be  increased  to  $30,000, 
an  increase  of  about  $7,000.  But  this  is  just  what  the  Conference  asked  as 
the  minimum  of  its  most  urgent  needs  several  years  ago,  and  it  should  now  be 
granted  $40,000  a  year.  This  would  make  the  proportion  between  the  appro¬ 
priation  and  special  gifts  safe;  it  would  be  possible  to  reinforce  the  mission¬ 
ary  staff,  to  make  at  least  helpful  grants  to  the  institutions,  and  to  push  the 
field  work  with  real  vigor  along  all  lines.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  this 
were  done,  one  of  the  most  notable  advances  the  church  has  ever  seen  would 
speedily  follow  in  each  of  the  great  language  areas  of  the  Conference.” 

Tbe  appropriation  asked  for  Bombay  by  tbe  Finance  Committee  was 
$49,552.  Tbe  appropriation  received  was  $22,775,  tbis  being  an  increase 
of  $125.  _ _ 

BENGAL 

New  Mission  Homes  and  Cburcb.  Buildings,  Debts  on  Old 

Property,  a  Sanitarium,  Native  Work 

Rev.  J.  O.  Denning: 

“It  will  require  $14,350  to  provide  for  the  missionaries  of  the  Board  in 
the  Bengal  Conference  in  1909,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  entire 

18 


support  of  three,  and  two  thirds  of  the  support  of  one,  come  from  other 
sources;  as  also  the  support  of  a  European  missionary  not  of  the  Board. 
Add  to  this  $1,000  for  the  support  of  an  American  not  of  the  Board.  Last 
year  [1908]  our  appropriation  was  only  $16,900.  On  that  basis  we  would  have 
left  for  the  native  work  only  $1,650  for  workers,  rents,  taxes,  itinerating, 
schools,  etc.,  whereas  our  actual  needs  for  these  purposes,  as  the  estimates 
will  show,  are  $26,000;  and  our  estimates  are  very  low.  In  addition  to  this, 
we  are  in  urgent  need  of  property.  A  mission  house  at  Arrah,  in  the  Tirhoot 
District,  is  very  greatly  needed.  The  two  workers  there  are  living  in  a  shed 
that  is  about  to  tumble  down.  We  have  a  fine  plot  of  land  of  about  four  or 
five  acres  in  a  good  location.  Arrah  Circuit  contains  a  population  of  2,000,000, 
and  practically  no  work  is  being  done  there  by  any  other  mission.  Our  work 
there  is  opening  up  splendidly.  A  mission  house  at  Rasra  is  seriously  needed. 
Payments  are  not  yet  completed  on  the  buildings  at  Asansol,  Pakur,  and 
Muzzaffarpur.  Appropriations  are  also  asked  toward  the  Hati  Bagan  church 
and  the  Toong  Sanitarium.” 

Rev.  Frederick  B.  Price: 

“In  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  we  ask  for  special  consideration  of  our 
status  as  a  Conference  in  this  Province  of  Bengal,  which  alone  contains  a 
population  of  80,000,000,  equal  to  that  of  the  United  States,  and  which  presents 
peculiar  strategic  opportunities.  Though  other  missionary  bodies  are  repre¬ 
sented  on  the  field,  we  consider  that  our  own  church  is  responsible  for 
evangelizing  about  16,000,000  souls  during  this  generation,  though  our  limited 
staff  and  the  stubborn  conditions  here  prevent  aggressive  movement  without 
substantial  reinforcements.” 

Tke  Finance  Committee  estimated  tLat  these  opportunities  and  needs  in 
the  Bengal  Conference  could  he  met  adequately  with  an  appropriation  of 
not  less  than  $42,000,  An  appropriation  of  $17,025  was  granted. 


BURMA 


New  Missionaries,  Buildings  for  a  Bihle  Training  School  and  for 
Day  and  Boarding  Schools,  Mission  Residences 

Rev.  B.  M.  Jones ,  for  the  Finance  Committee: 


“The  fact  that  our  estimates,  though  by  no  means  extravagant  in  pro¬ 
portion  to  the  pressing  demands  upon  us,  are  more  than  four  times  the 
amount  of  our  appropriation  for  the  current  year,  indicates  rather  plainly 
the  position  in  which  we  find  ourselves,  namely,  committed  to  the  performance 
of  work  the  means  for  which  are  entirely  inadequate. 

“Due  very  largely  to  the  fact  that  our  mission  has  always  been  under¬ 
manned,  our  work  in  Burma  has  gained  comparatively  little  momentum.  It 
has  been  impossible  to  give  the  work  close,  personal  supervision  or  to  set 
aside  men  who  could  give  their  time  to  the  training  of  workers.  One  large 
circuit  has  been  practically  without  supervision  for  more  than  a  year,  and  it 
has  been  impossible  to  give  a  man  to  the  Chinese  work,  as  has  been  planned 
for  two  years  past.  Our  present  force  consists  of  two  married  and  three 
single  men;  the  time  of  one  of  the  former,  however,  being  entirely  taken  up 
with  our  self-supporting  English  Church  in  Rangoon.  We  are  asking  for  one 

19 


married  and  three  single  men,  as  the  lowest  number  with  which  we  can 
reasonably  he  expected  to  cope  with  the  work  as  it  is. 

“Next  to  the  estimate  for  missionaries,  that  for  property  and  equipment 
will  he  seen  to  be  the  largest  item.  It  includes  provision  for  land  and  building 
for  a  Bible  training  school,  and  additional  buildings  for  several  day  and 
boarding  schools  which  are  self-supporting  when  equipped,  and  which  have 
been  our  most  fruitful  field  of  evangelism.  The  boys’  school  building  in 
Rangoon,  though  completed  only  last  year  at  a  cost  of  $16,000  without  expense 
to  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  has  now  nearly  500  pupils  and  is  full  to 
overflowing,  so  that  pupils  must  be  turned  away  from  both  day  and  boarding 
departments.  Other  schools  are  proportionately  prosperous  and  equally  needy 
of  housing  and  equipment,  and  the  need  of  mission  residences  is  imperative.” 

The  amount  needed  for  work  in  Burma  during  1909,  according  to  the 
estimates  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  that  Conference,  is  $41,213.  TLe 
amount  which  the  Conference  is  to  receive  is  $10,025. 


MALAYSIA 


Native  and.  Foreign  Workers,  Schools,  Evangelistic  and  Educa¬ 
tional  Work  among  Mohammedans 

Bishop  William  F.  Oldham: 


“Malaysia  is  a  saucer  into  which  the  overflow  of  China  and  India  is 
sending  a  continuous  double  stream  of  emigration.  This  double  stream 
meeting  the  Malays,  themselves  divided  into  various  tribes,  is  making  a  most 
curious  and  most  interesting  amalgam  of  human  population,  which  under 
various  flags  (chiefly  the  English  and  the  Dutch)  is  being  compacted  into 
civilized  peoples,  with  stable  government  and  enlarging  opportunity  for 
worthy  commercial  and  civic  life.  In  all  this  subdivision  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  the  only  American  organization  at  work.  And  the 
American  ministry  of  the  gospel  to  70,000,000  of  the  human  family  is  confined 
to  the  missionaries  of  the  Malaysia  Conference.  There  are  several  difficulties 
in  this  field  which  are  being  met  and  splendidly  overcome  by  as  gallant  and 
devoted  a  band  of  men  and  women  as  serve  the  church  in  any  of  her  foreign 
fields.  The  marked  feature  here  is  a  chain  of  great  schools  extending  from 
Penang,  on  the  north,  to  Buitenzorg,  in  Java,  on  the  south.  In  these  schools 
over  4,000  boys  and  girls  are  under  teachers  who,  while  enlarging  their 
earthly  horizon  and  giving  them  stirring  new  thoughts  regarding  the  life 
that  is,  are  also  unceasingly  bringing  to  bear  upon  the  problems  of  that  life 
the  knowledge  of  that  larger  life  ‘which  is  and  shall  be  for  evermore.’ 

“Properties  now  valued  at  half  a  million  dollars,  current  coin,  are  being 
used  for  the  Christian  education  of  the  youth  of  Malaysia.  The  publishing 
house  in  Singapore  is  erecting  a  very  handsome  three-story  building  on  one 
of  the  most  prominent  sites  in  the  city.  Singapore  is  so  strategic  a  point  in 
the  world’s  commerce  that  the  printed  matter  distributed  there  reaches  more 
millions  of  diverse  peoples,  perhaps,  than  from  any  other  port  in  all  the  world. 
This  gives  the  publishing  house  located  there  peculiar  significance  and  value.” 


Rev .  J.  R.  Denyes: 

“Opportunities  for  work  in  Java  are  now  coming  to  us  faster  than  we 
can  find  the  funds  to  care  for  them.  In  two  places  Mohammedans  have  asked 

20 


for  a  teacher  to  be  sent  to  them.  In  other  places  the  people  would  be  glad  to 
have  us  open  Christian  schools,  and  would  listen  to  the  gospel.  Chinese  and 
Malays  who  have  become  Christians,  but  have  moved  away  to  other  places, 
are  continually  sending  to  us,  asking  that  churches  be  opened  in  their 
villages.  There  is  a  rich  harvest  waiting  for  the  reapers.” 

In  West  Borneo  a  decided  movement  toward  Christianity  has  been  for 
some  time  spreading  up  and  down  the  whole  coast.  But  until  this  last  year 
government  would  not  permit  the  missionary  to  establish  regular  church 
organizations.  Now,  however,  the  coveted  permission  has  been  granted  and 
wonderful  progress  is  expected  in  that  region. 


TLe  amount  needed  for  1909  by  tlie  Malaysia  Conf  erence,  as  estimated 
by  tbe  Finance  Committee,  was  $30,863.  The  amount  appropriated  is 
$21,380. 


PHILIPPINE  ISLANDS 

Scliolarsliips  and.  Teachers  in  Bible  Training  Schools,  Six  Mis¬ 
sionary  Couples  for  Evangelistic  Work  and  Two 
Score  Filipino  Evangelists,  Forty  Churches 

Bishop  'William  F.  Oldham: 

“When  the  next  General  Conference  assembles  there  will  be  at  least 
50,000  Methodists  in  the  Philippine  Islands.  And  as  many  more  thousands 
above  fifty  as  we  are  supplied  with  added  missionary  workers.  With  our 
present  equipment  and  organization  it  may  safely  be  said  for  each  added 
missionary  couple  there  will  be  an  added  2,000  members  during  the  quad- 
rennium.  The  people  are  ready  and  willing  and  many  eagerly  accept  the 
proffered  salvation.  All  that  is  needed  for  glorious  advance  is  the  strength¬ 
ening  of  our  Bible  training  schools,  male  and  female,  by  added  scholarships 
and  two  added  missionary  teachers,  one  under  the  Board  and  one  under  the 
ladies’  society;  to  these  add  six  missionary  couples  for  evangelistic  work  and 
two  score  Filipino  evangelists  at  from  $60  to  $150  a  year;  then  help  to  build 
forty  churches  at  from  $50  to  $500  each,  and  we  can  almost  guarantee  that  the 
quadrennium  will  close  with  shouts  of  victory  from  a  Methodism  of  from 
50,000  to  80,000  people  entrenched  and  eager  for  further  advance.” 


Rev.  William  H.  Teeter ,  Central  Districts 

“First  among  the  needs  of  the  Central  District  must  be  mentioned  the 
matter  of  American  missionaries.  We  need  a  man  and  wife  at  once  to  take 
charge  of  this  large  province  of  Bulacan.  The  district  superintendent,  who  is 
also  missionary  in  charge  of  this  province,  was  in  his  own  home  just  two  and 
one  half  days  from  August  28  to  October  21,  1908,  and  this  is  a  fair  sample 
of  his  life  all  the  time.  The  work  of  this  province  is  being  neglected  and 
will  be  neglected  until  there  is  a  missionary  on  the  field  to  care  for  it.  Over 
300,000  people  and  no  missionary!  For  the  province  of  Nueva  Ecija  also  we 
need  another  missionary.  This  province  is  too  large  for  any  one  man  to 
handle;  then,  too,  much  of  the  year  the  present  missionary  can  go  to  the 
northern  part  of  his  work  by  one  of  two  methods  only — submarine  boat  or 
airship;  we  have  neither.  A  man  in  the  northern  part  of  this  province 
would  make  thousands  and  thousands  of  members  possible,  as  it  is  wide  open 
for  the  gospel.  Then,  too,  we  have  one  entire  province  in  this  district  that 
has  never  been  touched. 


21 


“We  need  more  than  double  the  force  of  Filipino  workers.  We  have  the 
workers,  but  we  need  the  money  to  put  them  to  work.  In  the  year  to  come 
we  must  have  $2,500  to  care  for  our  native  workers,  or  we  will  be  going 
backward,  for  every  man  is  overworked  and  underpaid  now;  just  a  few  days 
ago  one  of  our  men  got  into  such  straits  financially  that  I  had  to  give  him 
$10  out  of  my  own  pocket  in  order  to  make  it  possible  for  him  to  continue. 
This  is  only  one  case — there  are  others  like  it  constantly. 

“An  American  doctor  is  needed  for  the  1,000,000  people  in  this  district. 
The  missionary  does  a  great  deal  to  allay  suffering,  but  he  is  not  a  doctor, 
and  as  a  consequence  there  are  hundreds  dying  every  year  that  might  and 
would  be  saved  for  future  usefulness  if  we  had  a  medical  man  or  woman  on 
the  district.  We  have  the  building  for  the  hospital,  and  the  trained  nurse  is 
on  the  field,  but  we  cannot  open  until  there  is  a  doctor  here  to  give  his  time 
and  experience.  We  need  also  a  dispensary  at  every  missionary  station, 
where  the  sick  and  afflicted  can  come  to  meet  the  missionary  doctor  as  he 
travels  from  town  to  town  on  his  regular  trips. 

“One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  the  entire  work  is  the  need  of  an 
orphanage  to  care  for  the  children.  Rome  appreciates  this,  and  she  gathers 
up  all  that  she  can  get  and  molds  them  her  way;  if  we  could  start  such  an 
institution  we  could  have  these  islands  under  the  control  of  Protestant 
officials  twenty  years  hence.  It  would  be  the  best  money  that  Methodism  has 
ever  invested  in  these  islands. 

“We  have  in  Central  District  four  provincial  capitals  where  we  are  doing 
work.  These  cities  run  in  population  from  17,000  to  25,000  people.  Yet  in  all 
this  work  we  have  not  one  substantial  church  edifice,  and  in  three  of  them 
we  have  practically  nothing.  In  San  Isidro,  Nueva  Ecija,  the  missionary  has 
fitted  up  the  under  part  of  his  house  for  services.  In  Malolos  we  have 
nothing  in  the  shape  of  a  church  or  chapel.  I  have  had  many  schoolboys  ask 
me  to  hold  services  in  English  for  them,  but  we  have  absolutely  no  place  to 
do  it.  We  could  have  a  hundred  schoolboys  and  girls  in  our  services  if  we 
had  a  decent  church  to  invite  them  to.  It  is  the  opportunity  of  a  man’s  life; 
we  have  the  site;  we  need  $5,000  for  the  church.  San  Fernando,  Pampanga, 
has  an  old  chapel  that  is  a  disgrace  to  Methodism — unsanitary,  dark,  with 
moldy  walls  and  bad  odors.  How  can  we  hope  to  get  the  better  class  of 
people  to  our  services?  It  is  due  only  to  the  sterling  qualities  of  Brother  and 
Sister  Housley  that  we  have  any  service  there.  We  need  and  should  have 
at  once  $5,000  for  this  church.  Tarlac,  though  not  so  large,  has  about  the 
largest  constituency  of  the  better  class  of  Filipinos  as  friends  of  the  church. 
We  have  one  of  the  best  sites  in  the  city  for  a  church,  but  no  money;  we 
need  $5,000  for  this  church.  We  need  to  build  well  in  these  capital  centers. 
Then,  too,  there  is  little  use  of  building  anywhere  with  anything  except 
cement  and  the  native  woods,  and  this  costs  money.  In  all  of  these  places 
the  people  will  help  to  some  extent,  but  they  cannot  help  much,  as  we  are 
pressing  them  hard  for  the  support  of  their  own  preachers,  and  the  people 
are  poor.” 

The  above  statement  of  conditions  in  tbe  Central  District  represents  to 
a  great  extent  tbe  needs  felt  m  all  parts  of  our  work  in  tbe  Philippines — 
needs  wbicb,  according  to  tbe  estimates  of  tbe  Finance  Committee  of  that 
Conference,  called  for  an  appropriation  of  $46,875.  Tbe  appropriation 
made  was  $25,900. 


22 


AFRICA 


Needs  as  Outlined  by  tbc  Africa  Diamond  Jubilee  Commission 


Through  the  Africa  Diamond  Jubilee  Commission  a  special  appeal  for 
Africa  is  now  being  made  to  the  church.  In  one  of  the  pamphlets  by  Bishop 
Joseph  C.  Hartzell — Diamond  Investments  in  Africa — published  by  the  Com¬ 
mission,  the  special  needs  of  the  six  Methodist  Episcopal  centers  of  work  in 
that  continent  are  given  as  follows: 


Liberia. — Missionaries  to  reenforce  present  stations  and  open  work  among 
the  aboriginal  tribes;  buildings,  equipment,  and  scholarships  for  the  training 
of  native  leaders. 


Angola. — More  missionaries;  churches  and  chapels  at  three  main  stations 
and  several  substations;  improved  industrial  and  educational  equipment  at 
the  present  stations;  gifts  for  new  work,  particularly  for  work  in  the  high 
and  healthful  Chokwe  country,  inhabited  by  superior  tribes  among  which  no 
foreigner  has  as  yet  resided. 

Madeira  Islands. — Money  for  the  strengthening  and  enlargement  of  the 
work  among  the  sailors,  and  an  additional  missionary,  and  further  equipment 
for  the  missions  already  established. 

Portuguese  East  Africa. — More  missionaries  for  training  schools  and 
for  superintending  native  work;  buildings  for  training  schools,  additional 
equipment  for  the  mission  press,  and  a  physician. 

Rhodesia. — Equipments  for  industrial  work;  money  and  missionaries  to 
open  work  in  six  native  centers;  money  for  medical  dispensaries  and  training 
schools  for  native  workers. 

North  Africa. — Here  are  all  the  needs  of  a  new  mission.  There  must  be 
more  missionaries  and  these  well  trained  for  the  difficult  Mohammedan  work. 
There  must  be  equipment — two  centrally  located  buildings,  one  at  Tunis  and 
one  at  Algiers,  as  headquarters  for  the  work. 

For  a  more  detailed  statement  of  these  needs,  together  with  the  sums  of 
money  required,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  pamphlet,  Diamond  Investments 
in  Africa,  to  be  obtained  from  the  Africa  Diamond  Jubilee  Commission,  150 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  city. 

Tbe  amounts  requested  from  tbe  General  Committee  for  tbe  Africa 
Conferences,  and  tbe  amounts  appropriated  are  as  follows:  Liberia — 
Amount  asked,  $16,061;  received,  $15,376.  West  Central  Africa — 
Amount  asked,  $17,194  ;  received,  $14,201.  East  Central  Africa — Amount 
asked,  $19,230 ;  received,  $16,065.  No  appropriation  was  made  for  tbe 

work  in  North  Africa,  wbicb  as  yet  is  supported  entirely  by  special  gifts. 

23 


LATIN  AMERICA 


EASTERN  SOUTH  AMERICA 

Re-enforced.  Missionary  Staff,  Pioneer  Work  on  tke  Plains  of 
Argentina,  Aid  for  Building  Projects  of 
Struggling  Ckurclies 

Rev .  Charles  W.  Drees: 

“The  needs  of  the  Eastern  South  America  Conference  grow  out  of  (1)  the 
depletion  of  the  missionary  staff  by  the  death  of  Dr.  Siberts  and  the  retire¬ 
ment  or  transfer  to  other  fields  of  three  others  within  three  or  four  years, 
without  new  men  supplying  their  places;  (2)  the  great  increase  in  the 
expense  of  living,  involving  larger  pay  for  native  workers  and  increased 
rentals;  (3)  the  opportunity  and  urgency  of  educational  work  which  has 
never  had  its  proper  development  in  this  mission;  (4)  the  pressure  of  calls  to 
new  fields  within  our  territory;  and  (5)  the  need  of  church,  parsonage,  and 
school  buildings. 

“Leaving  out  of  view  for  the  time  being  the  provision  for  property,  and 
providing  for  only  small  expansion,  the  appropriation  to  this  mission  should 
be  about  $62,000,  an  increase  of  about  $9,000.  Such  an  increase  should  make 
all  the  difference  between  fort-holding,  with  only  tentative  advance  upon  the 
unoccupied  territory  of  our  field,  and  an  aggressive,  enthusiastic  campaign. 
More  specifically  the  needs  are:  1.  Reenforcement.  A  trained  preacher  and 
educator,  with  his  wife,  for  Buenos  Ayres,  to  take  a  department  of  instruc¬ 
tion  in  the  seminary,  which  cannot  be  adequately  cared  for  by  one  man,  and 
to  aid  in  the  evangelistic  work  in  that  great  city  of  a  million  and  a  quarter 
inhabitants;  a  married  missionary  for  Paraguay,  capable  of  directing  the 
schools  and  also  of  learning  an  indigenous  language,  the  Guarani,  and  being 
a  leader  in  the  evangelization  of  the  Indian  population  east  of  the  Paraguay 
River;  a  missionary  printer,  to  take  charge  of  the  mission  press;  a  trained 
educator  and  his  wife,  also  a  trained  teacher  to  establish  a  boys’  high 
school  in  Buenos  Ayres,  which  would  speedily  become  self-supporting.  These 
we  need  to  restore  the  staff  to  its  normal  efficiency  in  the  face  of  the  diffi¬ 
culties  and  opportunities  before  us.  2.  Expansion.  Nearly  half  the  state 
capitals  of  Argentina  invite  and  await  our  occupation.  The  new  settlements 
that  have  been  formed  or  are  being  formed  on  the  plains  by  the  immense  tide 
of  immigration  call  us  to  a  pioneer  work  similar  to  that  by  which  Methodism 
contributed  so  vitally  to  the  “making  of  the  West”  in  our  own  country. 
3.  Church  Extension.  Besides  the  sum  ($62,000)  “for  the  work,”  as  above 
suggested,  a  yearly  appropriation  for  the  next  ten  years  of  $5,000  to  be 
applied  to  the  aid  of  our  smaller  churches  which  are  struggling  to  secure 
chapels  and  parsonages,  would  result  as  follows:  (1)  It  would  create 
property  of  a  value  at  least  five  times  as  great  as  the  aggregate  outlay  from 

24 


the  Board’s  treasury.  (2)  It  would  give  to  our  work  the  prestige  of  perma¬ 
nent  establishment  in  the  view  of  the  public.  (3)  It  would  release  large 
sums  of  money  now  employed,  and  measurably  lost,  in  rentals  of  inadequate 
places  of  worship,  and  would  turn  it  to  pastoral  support.  This  would  place 
many  pastoral  charges  on  a  basis  of  complete  self-support.” 

Dr.  Drees's  estimate  of  $62,000  is  made,  "leaving  out  of  view  tLe  pro¬ 
vision  for  property  and  providing  for  only  small  expansion."  Tlie  esti¬ 
mates  of  tke  Finance  Committee,  wlucli  included  $26,000  for  new  property, 
called  for  an  appropriation  of  $112,050.  The  appropriation  made  to  that 
Conference  was  $52,592. 


NORTH  ANDES  AND  CHILE 

Grants  for  Old  and.  New  Schools,  Missionaries,  Bible  Teachers, 

Church  Buildings 

Rev.  Homer  C.  Stuntz: 

“The  school  at  Concepcion,  Chile,  has  partially  completed  what  will  be 
one  of  the  finest  school  buildings  in  all  South  America.  Just  now  they  are 
held  back  by  lack  of  funds,  but  the  entire  plant  will  be  completed  in  time, 
and  will  shelter  a  great  boys’  school,  sending  out  into  all  the  walks  of  life 
in  that  growing  republic  the  men  who  will  direct  its  affairs.  In  Peru  and 
Ecuador  we  are  face  to  face  with  large  opportunities  among  the  most  in¬ 
fluential  classes,  and  can  but  meagerly  improve  upon  them.  The  Trans- 
Andine  Railway,  which  has  been  creeping  slowly  toward  the  fertile  interior 
where  lies  the  real  Peru  of  fertility  and  beauty,  of  mines  and  forests  and 
undreamed-of  possibilities,  has  now  reached  Huancayo,  225  miles  from  the 
coast,  and  the  real  capital  of  Peru.  There  we  should  immediately  entrench 
ourselves  with  property  and  at  least  two  missionary  leaders.  From  a  point 
near  that  large  city  fifteen  cities,  with  thousands  of  people  in  each  one,  can 
be  seen  from  one  point,  and  in  not  one  of  them  is  there  a  voice  lifted  up  to 
tell  the  people  that  Jesus  Christ  can  save  any  poor  sinner  who  will  come  to 
him!  In  Bolivia  we  are  at  the  parting  of  the  ways.  We  must  either  go  forward 
with  confidence  or  lose  all  that  has  been  invested  of  life  and  money.  The 
Bolivian  government  has  made  a  grant  of  public  money  to  sustain  a  public 
school  in  La  Paz,  but  even  with  this  grant  from  year  to  year,  so  high  are  the 
rentals  that  must  be  paid  for  the  school  buildings  necessary,  and  so  expensive 
is  living  in  that  capital,  it  has  been  impossible  to  make  the  local  tuitions 
and  the  government  grant  meet  the  expenses.  Those  who  are  now  in  charge 
of  the  work  at  that  outpost  state  that  they  cannot  go  on  with  the  work 
unless  our  Board  gets  squarely  behind  them  and  guarantees  what  funds  are 
needed  to  meet  the  inevitable  deficit  in  the  annual  budget. 

“In  the  republic  of  Panama  our  force  of  workers  consists  of  the  district 
superintendent  and  his  wife  and  the  principal  of  our  school  for  boys  and 
girls.  We  are  now  housed  in  our  new  building,  which  has  been  built  near 
the  palace  of  the  Panama  government  and  directly  on  the  water  front,  and 
which  affords  accommodations  for  the  boys’  and  girls’  school,  the  church,  and 
quarters  for  the  district  superintendent.  The  work  is  being  pushed  among 
the  Americans;  between  five  and  six  thousand  of  our  countrymen  reside 

25 


there.  Our  needs  in  Panama  are  (1)  another  American  missionary  to 
master  the  Spanish  language  and  give  himself  to  a  pioneer  kind  of 
evangelism  in  the  cities  and  villages  not  hitherto  reached  by  our  work; 
(2)  provision  for  another  school;  (3)  beginning  of  a  Bible  training  school 
for  native  workers;  (4)  a  roomy  and  well-located  church  in  the  heart  of  the 
Spanish  population.” 

Bishop  Frank  M.  Bristol: 

“How  the  Methodists  of  La  Paz,  Bolivia,  need  a  respectable  building  for 
our  church  services!  How  our  southernmost  mission,  under  Brother  Reeder, 
needs  about  $400  to  complete  the  buildings  that  are  needed  to  accommodate 
our  growing  work!  For  $125  we  can  keep  one  of  our  most  useful  workers 
in  the  field  as  a  Bible  reader,  a  devout  woman  of  great  influence  among  the 
people  of  Santiago,  Chile.  Again:  we  have  a  converted  Indian  chief  down 
in  Chile,  a  Methodist  local  preacher,  who  goes  among  the  people  of  his  own 
tribe,  preaching  the  gospel,  and  it  costs  only  about  $10  a  month  to  support 
him  in  the  work,  and  thus  to  help  him  bring  his  whole  tribe  to  Christ.” 

Rev.  Goodsil  F.  Arms: 

“Concepcion  is  the  third  city  in  size  in  Chile  and  is  the  commercial  and 
educational  center  of  the  southern  half  of  Chile.  Here  we  have  a  college  for 
boys  and  one  for  girls,  making  it  the  most  important  center  of  our  educa¬ 
tional  work  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America.  Here  is  one  of  our  most 
important  churches.  Yet  for  our  church  work  we  have  only  a  small  room 
that  was  fitted  for  a  chapel  when  the  edifice  for  the  boys’  school  was  con¬ 
structed.  Only  two  hundred  and  thirty  persons  can  be  accommodated  in 
schoolroom  and  chapel  together.” 

The  appropriations  requested  lor  Chile,  Peru,  and  Ecuador  amounted 
to  $76,200.  The  appropriations  made  to  these  countries  amounted  to 
$36,475.  To  Bolivia  and  Panama,  from  which  no  estimates  were 
received,  appropriations  of  $5,000  and  $2,500,  respectively,  were  made. 


MEXICO 

New  Places  Calling  for  Workers,  a  Parsonage  in  Mexico  City, 

a  School  Building  m  Puehla 

Rev.  John  W.  Butler: 

“Our  work  is  so  developing  that  if  we  do  not  have  an  increase  in  our 
appropriation  it  will  suffer  very  much  in  1909.  Several  of  our  circuits  are 
not  properly  manned.  Take,  for  instance,  the  Huitzo  Circuit:  it  has  eight 
congregations,  three  day  schools,  and  five  Sunday  schools;  and  yet  we  have 
but  one  preacher  on  that  circuit.  We  cannot  send  another  man  there  for 
lack  of  funds.  Then,  there  is  the  Cuyemecalco  Circuit:  it  has  five  congre¬ 
gations  and  three  or  four  more  places  waiting  to  be  opened.  The  preacher 
teaches  school,  and  he  cannot  attend  to  these  places  and  attend  to  his 
school.  They  are  all  off  the  railway  and  a  considerable  distance  apart.  The 
interests  of  this  circuit  cover  a  territory  from  seventy-five  to  eighty  miles 
long  and  thirty  to  forty  miles  wide,  and  the  only  way  he  can  get  about  is  on 

26 


horseback.  These  new  places  are  calling  out  for  workers  and  offer  to  provide 
places  of  worship,  including  furniture,  if  we  will  only  send  them  preachers. 
In  the  Zacualtipan  Circuit  we  have  opened  up  several  new  places  during  the 
year,  and  there  is  an  urgent  call  for  four  new  pastors,  but  we  have  no  money 
to  send;  not  even  one  preacher  can  we  send  into  that  large  and  promising 
circuit.  And  I  might  multiply  these  cases.  Our  evangelistic  work  must  have 
some  increase  or  suffer. 

“Our  school  work  is  growing  in  numbers  and  influence.  Our  graduates 
are  eagerly  taken  up  by  the  government,  and  from  this  source  we  have  had 
applications  for  half  a  dozen  teachers  recently,  so  that  in  addition  to  the 
work  we  are  doing,  if  we  can  properly  support  our  schools,  we  will  furnish 
dozens  of  teachers  to  the  government,  who  will  be  spreading  the  leaven 
throughout  society. 

“In  some  sections  it  is  very  interesting  to  notice  the  eagerness  with 
which  children  come  to  our  schools.  We  can  cite  cases  where  boys  and  girls 
walk  six  and  eight  miles  in  the  morning  in  order  to  come  to  school,  and 
must  walk  the  same  distance  to  return  home  in  the  evening.  Such  is  the 
influence  of  our  work  through  our  schools  and  our  churches  that  the  govern¬ 
ment  has  opened  up  the  prisons  and  penitentiaries  to  our  workers  during  the 
past  year  in  at  least  two  states.  We  are  now  allowed  to  go  in  and  give 
temperance  lectures,  and  in  some  cases  to  preach  the  gospel  and  distribute 
religious  literature.” 

Rev.  Homer  C.  Stuntz: 

“In  Mexico  City  the  English-speaking  congregation  has  paid  for  a  lot  in 
a  fine  location  at  a  cost  of  $10,000,  and  seeks  aid  this  year  for  the  erection 
of  a  parsonage  theron.  In  Puebla  the  plant  of  the  boys’  school  has  been 
sold  to  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  as  it  was  exactly  what  was 
needed  to  complete  their  plan  of  buildings,  and  a  new  site  has  been  secured 
for  the  boys’  school.  On  this  lot  is  being  built  a  school  building  which  will 
easily  lead  all  of  our  institutions  in  that  republic.” 

Tkus  are  described  open  doors  in  Mexico,  some  of  wkick  must  remain 
unentered  during  1909,  for  in  response  to  a  request  for  $87,459,  tke 
Mexico  Conference  receives  $58,900. 


2? 


EUROPE 


PROTESTANT  EUROPE 

Congregations  “Making  Heroic  Efforts  to  Pay  Ckapel  Dekts, 
But  Forced  to  Create  More  Dekts  ky  tke 
Growtk  of  tke  Work  * 

Rev.  Homer  C.  Stuntz: 

“The  work  in  Protestant  Europe  [North  Germany,  South  Germany, 
Switzerland,  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Finland]  had  a  normal 
development  during  the  year  1908,  and  presents  practically  the  same  front — 
that  of  aggressive,  evangelistic  work,  with  churches  crowded,  altars  filled 
with  seekers,  and  solid  growth  in  membership  and  property.  North  and 
South  Germany  and  Switzerland  have  made  heroic  efforts  to  pay  chapel 
debts,  but  have  been  forced  to  create  more  debts  by  the  growth  of  the  work. 
Rentals  are  so  high,  and  rented  halls  so  unsatisfactory  for  religious  work  in 
any  part  of  Europe  where  the  population  has  had  churchly  ideas  from 
infancy  that  for  reasons  of  economy  and  expediency  it  is  wisdom  to  secure 
church  sites  and  erect  our  own  buildings,  even  though  indebtedness  must  be 
incurred.  With  the  low  interest  obtainable  in  many  parts  of  our  work  on  the 
Continent  the  same  sums  which  would  be  paid  monthly  for  poorly  located 
and  unsuitable  halls  will  in  a  term  of  years  carry  interest  on  more  than  half 
the  cost  of  site  and  building  and  retire  the  balance  of  the  principal  indebted¬ 
ness,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  our  church  leaders  there  feel  compelled  to 
continue  their  policy  of  building  when  it  is  not  possible  at  once  to  raise  the 
entire  cost  of  the  church.  When  it  is  understood  that  the  ministers  in  our 
German  Conferences  in  Europe  receive  only  $405  as  an  average  annual  salary 
some  idea  can  be  gained  of  the  struggle  which  is  involved  in  all  extensions 
of  the  work. 

“In  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark  there  is  the  same  wholesome  spiritual 
growth  which  has  marked  our  work  in  those  countries  from  the  first  day  it 
wTas  established  there.  The  type  of  Methodism  is  more  like  that  of  the 
pioneer  period  in  our  own  country.  The  progress  toward  self-support  which 
has  been  made  in  all  these  fields  of  Protestant  Europe  has  been  most  grati¬ 
fying.  In  Sweden  the  entire  budget  as  sent  to  the  General  Committee  is  but 
twenty-three  per  cent  of  the  expense  incurred  in  carrying  forward  their 
work.  Out  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  charges  in  this  Conference  forty- 
seven  are  entirely  self-supporting.  Bishop  Burt  brings  glowing  reports  of 
the  progress  in  each  of  these  European  fields.” 

Tke  amount  estimated  for  work  in  Protestant  Europe  for  1909  was 
$91,995.  Tke  amount  appropriated  was  $83,446.  Tkese  figures  do  not 
include  tke  estimates  of  or  tke  appropriation  to  tke  Finland  and  Saint 

Peterskurg  Conference,  wkick  are  given  under  Russia. 

28 


RUSSIA 

Training’  of  Men  and  Women  Workers,  New  Ckurcn  in  Hel- 
smgfors.  Mission  Buildings  in  St.  Petersburg 

Rev.  Homer  C.  Stuntz: 

“In  Russia  the  field  that  opens  before  us  is  illimitable.  Of  the  150,000,000 
of  that  great  nation,  at  least  5,000,000  are  severed  from  any  relation  to  the 
state  church.  Religious  liberty  is  now  a  settled  fact,  and  can  be  enjoyed  by 
any  body  of  believers  whose  purposes  are  unselfish  and  whose  methods  are 
open  to  the  sun.  No  hindrance  has  been  placed  in  the  way  of  our  superin¬ 
tendent  in  opening  his  work,  whether  in  Saint  Petersburg  or  in  outlying 
cities.  He  reports  large  bodies  of  dissenters,  more  or  less  definitely  agreeing 
upon  certain  doctrines,  and  all  absorbingly  interested  in  the  study  of  the 
Word  of  God.  Preaching  has  been  begun  in  at  least  twenty  cities  and  villages 
outside  of  Saint  Petersburg,  and  on  November  8,  1908,  there  was  dedicated  in 
Wirballen,  Russia,  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  be  erected  in  an 
empire  which  will  yet  be  swept  with  waves  of  spiritual  power.  The  Bethany 
Deaconess  Home  has  been  formally  opened  in  the  Russian  capital,  with  five 
young  women  in  residence,  all  of  whom  can  speak  at  least  two  languages 
fluently.  The  little  handful  of  members  in  Russia  gave  last  year  over  $50 
for  missions  and  $95  for  local  expenses.  The  converted  Russian  is  a  religious 
enthusiast  and  loves  to  evangelize  among  his  own  people.  Methodism  is  a 
revival  and  missionary  church,  with  the  most  open  encouragement  given  to 
lay  preaching.  It  would  seem  that  God  has  sent  us  to  this  nation  just  at  the 
turning  point  in  her  destiny,  to  lead  the  new  Russia  into  vital  relations  with 
Christ.” 

Rev.  George  A.  Simons: 

“Arrangements  were  made  at  the  session  of  the  Finland  and  Saint  Peters¬ 
burg  Conference,  August,  1908,  for  training  of  four  able  young  men  from 
Russia,  three  being  sent  to  our  seminary  in  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  Germany, 
and  one  to  German  Wallace  College,  Berea,  Ohio,  where  already  there  are  two 
young  men  and  one  young  woman  from  Russia  preparing  themselves  for  this 
great  mission  field.  Others  have  volunteered  to  come.  Five  young  women 
are  in  residence  at  our  Bethany  Deaconess  Home,  recently  opened  in  Saint 
Petersburg.  Thus  God  is  raising  up  men  and  women  for  our  pioneer  work  in 
Russia;  we  need  not  go  a-begging  for  them.  The  only  embarrassment  is  lack 
of  funds  with  which  to  support  these  future  workers  who  are  now  being 
trained  in  various  countries.  Bishop  Burt  and  the  writer  have  assumed  the 
financial  responsibility  for  the  young  men  and  have  pledged  our  support  to 
the  deaconesses  in  Saint  Petersburg,  having  faith  in  God  and  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  believing  that  the  money  will  surely  come. 

“We  have  formed  a  third  district  in  our  Conference,  with  five  preaching 
places,  and  have  named  it  the  Russian  District.  Calls  are  coming  to  us  from 
different  parts  of  the  empire,  but  we  cannot  respond,  as  we  are  hampered 
financially.  In  Finland  we  have  engaged  five  new  men,  three  of  whom 
graduated  from  our  theological  seminary  at  Helsingfors  last  spring.  For 
these  men  and  the  new  work  undertaken  in  Russia  we  have  not  sufficient 
funds,  our  appropriation  being  inadequate  for  the  current  year.  We  shall 
not  borrow  money,  but  simply  trust  in  God  for  timely  help. 

29 


“Unanimous  action  was  taken  by  our  brethren  to  observe  the  twenty-fifth 
anniversary  of  Methodism  in  Finland  this  coming  year  by  raising  25,000 
mark  ($6,000)  for  a  Finnish  Jubilee  Church  in  Helsingfors.  Methodists  all 
over  the  world  ought  to  be  interested  in  this,  and  help  to  swell  the  sum  to 
$10,000.  For  over  fifteen  years  these  people  have  been  meeting  in  a  hall.  The 
congregation  has  grown  to  two  hundred,  and  their  need  of  a  church  edifice  is 
imperative.  Before  long  we  must  have  a  suitable  mission  house  and  a  Bible 
teachers  and  preachers’  training  institute  in  Saint  Petersburg.  There  is  no 
evangelical  school  of  this  kind  in  all  Russia!  Scores  of  Russians  are  com¬ 
pelled  to  go  to  Germany  every  year  to  receive  Bible  training.  The  Methodist 
Church  ought  to  have  the  honor  of  planting  the  first  school  of  this  kind  in 
this  semipagan  empire.” 

In  view  of  these  opportunities,  the  Finance  Committee  of  the  Finland 
and  Saint  Petersburg  Mission  Conf  erence  asked  this  year  for  $23,667  (all 
the  increase  over  last  year's  appropriation  of  $9,048  to  go  to  Russia). 
An  appropriation  of  $9,348  was  granted. 


BULGARIA 


Training  of  Men  for  the 

Securing  Needed  Properties 


Rev.  Elmer  E.  Count ,  for  the  Finance  Committee: 

“At  the  last  Annual  Conference  the  bishop  designated  the  only  mission¬ 
ary  on  the  field,  the  Rev.  Elmer  E.  Count,  to  live  in  Sofia,  as  the  interests  of 
the  mission  seem  to  demand  the  presence  of  a  representative  at  the  capital 
city  of  the  principality.  An  invitation  had  previously  been  extended  to  our 
Board  from  the  American  Board  to  come  to  Sofia  and  take  part  in  winning 
that  city  for  evangelical  Christianity.  This  necessitates  the  renting  of  a 
house  for  Mr.  Count  and  his  family,  and  a  hall  in  which  evangelistic  services 
can  be  held. 

“One  of  the  great  needs  of  our  work  in  Bulgaria  is  the  proper  training 
of  worthy  young  men  for  the  ministry.  We  have  no  educational  institutions 
of  any  sort  for  young  men,  so  have  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  best  we  can 
elsewhere.  We  have  been  able  to  find  the  theological  institutions,  but  up  to 
this  present  year  we  have  been  looking  almost  in  vain  for  the  worthy  young 
men.  It  has  been  a  subject  of  much  prayer  with  us.  We  gratefully  acknowl¬ 
edge  the  answer  to  those  prayers.  At  the  last  Annual  Conference,  either 
personally  or  through  brethren  to  represent  them,  no  less  than  six  young  men 
of  an  extremely  hopeful  class  presented  themselves  for  our  consideration  as 
candidates  for  the  ministry  of  our  church.  One  6f  them  entered  our  work 
this  year.  The  other  five  are  in  course  of  preparation.  We  hope  to  send  two 
of  these  to  Frankfort,  Germany,  next  year.  We  would  like  to  send  the  four 
to  the  same  institution.  We  ask  aid  from  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to 
help  in  training  two  of  these  young  men.  It  is,  after  all,  the  cheapest 
possible  way  to  train  our  men.  Educational  institutions  supported  by  the 
mission  would  bring  the  price  much  higher. 

“We  are  asking  for  $1,000  for  Pleven,  for  a  building,  because  of  most 


30 


urgent  needs  at  that  point.  We  have  there  a  large  lot  located  on  a  corner  of 
the  most  central  section  of  the  city'.  We  have  upon  it  a  one-story  building, 
containing  one  room  of  about  fifteen  feet  by  twelve  feet,  that  serves  as  a 
meeting  place  for  church  services,  and  two  others  of  much  smaller  dimen¬ 
sions  for  the  preacher’s  family.  Another  adjoining  building  serves  as  a 
kitchen  and  storeroom.  You  can,  therefore,  appreciate  the  desire  of  the 
people  there  to  have  a  church  building  that  will  accommodate  the  congrega¬ 
tion.  Constantly  people  are  turned  away  because  of  lack  of  room.  The 
congregation  is  made  up  of  poor  people,  but  they  have  pledged  2,000  francs 
toward  the  new  building.  If  we  have  $1,000  we  can  handle  the  situation  by 
putting  up  a  modest  building  on  one  of  the  very  best  corners  of  that  growing 
city. 

“At  Sofia,  the  opening  of  which  we  believe  means  so  much  for  the 
progress  of  our  work,  there  is  at  present  a  very  unique  opportunity  for  us 
to  acquire  a  most  suitable  property.  It  is  in  a  very  desirable  location.  On 
the  corner  of  the  plot  is  a  large,  strongly  built  building  three  stories  high. 
Alongside  of  this,  belonging  to  the  same  property,  is  an  open  plot  of  1,500 
or  more  square  meters.  The  rooms  of  the  building  could  easily  be  converted 
into  a  temporary  arrangement  for  church  services.  Room  also  could  be  had 
for  our  printing  establishment.  A  missionary’s  and  pastor’s  home  could  also 
be  provided.  The  vacant  lot  could  be  held  for  a  future  church.  Owing  to 
special  circumstances  in  which  the  owner  of  this  property  is  placed  at 
present,  it  could  most  probably  be  secured  for  100,000  francs.  There  is  a 
mortgage  on  it  of  40,000  francs,  which  could  be  continued;  from  the  sale  of 
a  piece  of  property  now  in  our  hands  in  Rustchuk  we  could  realize  32,500 
francs;  we  would  expect  to  raise  2,000  francs  here.  Thus  a  grant  of  $5,000 
from  the  Board  would  permit  us  to  handle  the  case.” 

To  meet  urgent  situations  suck  as  tkese,  tke  Bulgaria  Mission  Confer¬ 
ence  asked  for  $17,433.  An  appropriation  of  $9,500  was  granted. 


ITALY 


Rev.  A.  W.  Greenman ,  for  the  Finance  Committee: 

“The  inevitable  expansion  of  our  work,  attesting  its  general  evangelical 
and  Methodist  character,  together  with  the  large  recent  additions  from  the 
Italian  Free  Church,  urgently  demands  more  preachers,  more  chapels  and 
parsonages,  and  more  funds  for  itinerating,  if  we  are  to  provide  in  any 
adequate  way  for  the  places  and  people  who  have  come  under  our  care,  and 
respond  to  the  most  promising  calls.  With  a  proper  increase  of  funds  our 
splendid  plant  of  preachers,  members,  friends,  and  institutions  would  show  a 
far  larger  proportionate  increase  of  efficiency  and  results. 

“There  is  urgent  need  of  new  property  in  Trieste  and  Naples,  in  each 
case  for  the  proper  housing  of  old  work.  In  Trieste  our  work  so  long  and 
successfully  conducted  in  the  face  of  most  persistent  opposition  requires 
this  advance.  Of  Naples,  the  largest  city  in  Italy  and  third  on  the  continent, 
it  is  enough  to  say  that  the  work  is  more  poorly  housed  than  in  other  cities 


31 


of  one  tenth  its  size;  $25,000  is  asked  for  to  make  a  first  payment  on  a 
splendid  site  now  available.” 

The  Finance  Committee  estimated  tliat  these  opportunities  and  needs 
in  the  Italy  Conference  called  for  an  appropriation  for  1909  of  $86,745. 
An  appropriation  of  $55,312  was  granted. 


FRANCE 

“A  Million  of  Methodists  m  France  Within  the  Next 

Quarter  of  a  Century" 

Bishop  William  Burt: 

“One  of  the  greatest  events  in  the  history  of  the  church  since  the 
Reformation  is  the  separation  of  church  and  state  in  France.  The  door  is 
now  wide  open.  We  have  entered  and  are  already  at  work  in  five  important 
centers — Marseille,  Avignon,  Lyon,  Grenoble,  and  Chambery.  This  we  have 
been  able  to  do  through  the  generosity  of  Mr.  John  S.  Huyler.  Leaders  in 
church  and  state  heartily  approve  our  policy.  Other  doors  are  now  open 
which  we  cannot  enter  for  lack  of  funds.  We  need  now,  to  make  the  working 
force  already  on  the  field  more  effective,  an  energetic,  enterprising,  and 
consecrated  superintendent  who  shall  plan  and  direct  the  campaign.  We  need 
an  additional  $2,000,  and  we  need  this  very  much.  Success  now  means  glorious 
victories  in  the  near  future.  Discouragement  at  the  beginning  would  cripple 
us  for  a  long  time.  Help  to  evangelize  France!” 

Rev.  Homer  C.  Stuntz : 

“It  is  not  unreasonable  to  expect  a  Methodism  in  France  numbering  a 
million  of  souls  within  the  next  quarter  of  a  century.  Given  the  French 
temperament,  Methodist  doctrine  and  polity,  and  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Roman  Church,  and  this  result  is  a  glorious  possibility.  Only  a  lack  of 
the  requisite  courage,  sacrifice,  and  wisdom  in  leadership  will  prevent  a 
consummation  so  devoutly  to  be  sought.” 

For  tliis  opening  work  in  France  it  was  estimated  tliat  $7,060  would  be 
needed  for  1909.  Five  thousand  dollars  have  teen  secured  by  special 
gift;  $2,060  additional  was  requested  from  the  General  Committee;  $840 
was  appropriated. 


The  estimates  for  1909  made  on  the  field  exceeded  tke  appro¬ 
priations  made  by  tke  General  Committee  of  Foreign 
Missions  by  more  tkan  $600,000 


32 


